Title: The use of turbidity as a separation indicator of patchouli oil from its aqueous mixture in community distillation practices

Authors: Chandrawati Cahyani; Wa Ode Cakra Nirwana

Addresses: Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Brawijaya University, Jalan Veteran, Malang 65145, East Java, Indonesia ' Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Brawijaya University, Jalan Veteran, Malang 65145, East Java, Indonesia

Abstract: A laboratory study was conducted to investigate the possibility of patchouli oil separation from its aqueous mixture based on physical phenomena. The main concept behind the study was the application of turbidity instead of gas chromatography to determine the separation quality of patchouli oil from its aqueous mixture. This study proved that there was a linear relationship between turbidity and oil content in its water emulsion during distillation processes. The results showed that temperature, the addition of chemical agents, and pH influenced separation quality. A temperature of 60°C was proved to be the optimum separation temperature. At this temperature, separation required less cooling water, saving energy and streamlining the process. A pH of 4 was proved to be the best value, while NaCl was proved to be the best additive at a concentration of 0.2% in patchouli oil-water mixture.

Keywords: gas chromatography; turbidity; community distillation; patchouli oil separation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPTI.2019.104174

International Journal of Postharvest Technology and Innovation, 2019 Vol.6 No.1, pp.1 - 10

Accepted: 06 Jun 2019
Published online: 20 Dec 2019 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article