Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Dec 1:14:1292224.
doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1292224. eCollection 2023.

Steps to achieve carvone-rich spearmint (Mentha spicata L.) essential oil: a case study on the use of different distillation methods

Jalil Moradi-Sadr  1 , Mohammad-Taghi Ebadi  1 , Mahdi Ayyari  1
Affiliations

Steps to achieve carvone-rich spearmint (Mentha spicata L.) essential oil: a case study on the use of different distillation methods

Jalil Moradi-Sadr et al. Front Plant Sci. .

Abstract

Introduction: Spearmint essential oil is a valuable medical and food product. Spearmint essential oil is effective for the treatment of flatulence, indigestion, nausea, and colic along with Alzheimer, obesity, and fungal infections.

Methods: This study evaluated the quality and quantity of spearmint essential oil by examining some extraction strategies. The procedures were hydro-distillation, hydro-steam distillation, microwave-assisted hydro-distillation, and open hydro-distillation. The hydro-distillation had five pH levels (2, 4, 6, 8, and 10) and four NaCl concentrations (0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2%). microwave-assisted hydro-distillation at a power of 225 W was applied for 60, 90, and 120 minutes for process durations. The solvent extraction of herbal distillate obtained by an open hydro-distillation system was done using n-pentane and n-hexane to achieve a recovered essential oil by a rotary evaporator.

Results and discussion: The results showed that the lowest pH in the hydro-distillation process led to obtaining double yield compared to the control. Additionally, at 1 and 1.5% NaCl concentrations, the oil yield increased by 12.86 and 20.87%, respectively. Although the yield was reduced by microwave-assisted hydro-distillation, however within 120 minutes, carvone increased by 12.7% and limonene decreased by 42.3%. The best quality of spearmint oil belonged to solvent extraction followed by rotary evaporator.

Keywords: distillation; hydro-steam; microwave; solvent extraction; spearmint.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic and graphic illustrations of hydro-distillation (A), microwave-assisted hydro-distillation (B), hydro-steam distillation (C), and open hydro-distillation (D) experimental apparatuses; (1: plant material and distilled water, 2: condenser, 3: cold water in, 4: cold water out, 5, plant material container, 6: dropped extract, 7: vapor producer water and returned extract, 8: condensed recovered EO with water).
Figure 2
Figure 2
The essential oil content of evaluated procedures. HD: hydro-distillation, HSD: hydro-steam distillation, MAHD: microwave-assisted hydro-distillation.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The heat map of major volatile compounds of SEO in control and treatments. HD, hydro-distillation; HSD, hydro-steam distillation; N percentage of NaCl in salted water; MW, microwave-assisted hydro-distillation; REOP, recovered essential oil extracted using n-pentane; and REOH, recovered essential oil extracted using n-hexane.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Classification of the SEOs components. HD, hydro-distillation; HSD, hydro-steam distillation; MAHD, microwave-assisted hydro-distillation; REO, recovered essential oil.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Abdel-Hameed E.-S. S., Salman M. S., Fadl M. A., Elkhateeb A., El-Awady M. A. (2018). Chemical composition of hydrodistillation and solvent free microwave extraction of essential oils from Mentha piperita L. growing in Taif, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and their anticancer and antimicrobial activity. Orient. J. Chem. 34, 222. doi: 10.13005/ojc/340125 - DOI
    1. Abedi A.-S., Rismanchi M., Shahdoostkhany M., Mohammadi A., Mortazavian A. M. (2017). Microwave-assisted extraction of Nigella sativa L. essential oil and evaluation of its antioxidant activity. J. Food Sci. Technol. 54, 3779–3790. doi: 10.1007/s13197-017-2718-1 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Adams R. P. (2007). Identification of essential oil components by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (IL: Allured publishing corporation Carol Stream; ).
    1. Ali-Shtayeh M. S., Jamous R. M., Abu-Zaitoun S. Y., Khasati A. I., Kalbouneh S. R. (2019). Biological properties and bioactive components of Mentha spicata L. essential Oil: focus on potential benefits in the treatment of obesity, Alzheimer’s Disease, Dermatophytosis, and Drug-Resistant Infections. Evidence-Based Complement. Altern. Med 2019. doi: 10.1155/2019/3834265 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Babu G. D. K., Singh B. (2010). Characteristics variation of lavender oil produced by different hydrodistillation techniques. Compr. Bioact. Nat. Prod. Qual. Control Stand. 8, 122–136.

LinkOut - more resources