Experimental study of hydrodistillation extraction essential oil from Rosemary leaves

In this work three operating parameters (condensation flow rate, extraction time and water/plant material ratio) of hydrodistillation extraction oil from Rosemary have been optimized by response surface methodology to obtain high yield of oil. Results showed that data were adequately fitted into second-order polynomial model, and confirm that only the time of extraction and the Flow of condensation have a significant linear effect. Optimal conditions for oil yield within the experimental range of the studied variables were a ratio (water/plant) of 20, flow rate condensation of 4.66 ml/min and extraction time of 180min, where oil yield was predicted to be 1.92 %.