SUPERCRITICAL-FLUID EXTRACTION OF ESSENTIAL OIL FROM TURKISH LAVENDERFLOWERS

Essential oil was extracted from Turkish lavender flowers by supercrit ical carbon dioxide. A statistical experimental design based on ''Seco nd Order Central Composite Design'' was planned fixing the extraction period at four hours. Parameters such as pressure, temperature, carbon dioxide flow rate, and particle size coded as x(1), x(2), x(3), and x (4), respectively, were used. These parameters were investigated in fi ve levels (-2, -1, 0, 1, and 2). The dependent variable Y-1 was taken as the relative overall essential oil yield. The effects of operating conditions of supercritical fluid extraction on the relative overall y ields were calculated with respect to steam distillation. The optimum conditions to obtain Y greater than or equal to 80% were about x(1) = 85.77 bar, x(2) = 36.58 degrees C, x(3) 10. 11 L h(-1), and x(4) = -21 43 mu m, after some modifications for third order-like model. The comp onents of lavender essential oil such as fenchone, camphor, linalool, linalyl acetate, bornyl acetate, and cadinene were detected by GC-MS c hromatography. Fenchone and camphor were determined as the major compo nents. Besides, the essential oil samples extracted and trapped in alc ohol for each experiment were analyzed qualitatively by gas-liquid chr omatography. Then, the same response surface methodology was used for components of essential oil such as fenchone (Y-2) and camphor (Y-3).