Determination of Chemical and Physical Properties of Essential Oil Extracted from Mixture of Orange and Limon Peels Collected from Al-khoms–Libya

Abstract

The peel of citrus is known to be rich in essential oil. Essential oil compositions and properties vary among the citrus species and the climate factors play an important role. Essential oil to be suitable for the specific commercial uses should have basic properties. In this study, extracted oilof six citrus species [citrus sinensis, citrus aurantium, citrus nobilis, citrus reticulate and two kinds of lemon] were characterized.The moisture content ranged between 33.33% and 78.85%. and the oil yield was up to 38.85%. The other parameters were analysed as acid value,saponification number,ester number, refractive index, densityand specific gravity and their highest values in this study are (7.51 mg/KOH/g), (43.24 mgKOH/g), (149.38 mgKOH/g), (1.4542), (0.973 g/cm3) and (1.22) respectively. These parameters showed variations with the species. The characterization of the citrus extracted oil gave its physical and chemical properties Values that indicated it could be used for production of different valuable products.