Study on the extracting process of essential oil from Citrus maxima flower by steam distillation and the analysis for the composition of the essential oil

The extraction condition of essential oil from freeze- dried Citrus maxima flower by steam distillation was studied by single factor experiment and further the response surface method.The optimum condition was obtained as follows: the liquid to solid ratio 16 ∶ 1,the concentration of salt solution 3.51%,extraction time 8.15 h. The extraction ratio was 0.3856%. The composition of essential oil from Citrus maxima flower by steam distillation was analyzed by GC- MS,a total of 50 compounds which accounted for 87.60% of the essential oil were identified including farnesol,ethyl linoleate,ethyl linolenate,ethyl palmitatethe,nerolidol as the main components.