Efek Parameter Pada Minyak Atsiri Nilam Jawa (Pogostemon heyneanus) Menggunakan Metode Distilasi Air dan Kombinasi Distilasi Air-Uap

Abstract

Indonesia is one of the largest patchouli oil producers in the world. Export commodities from patchouli essential oil have high economic value and bring in foreign exchange. The use of patchouli oil is needed continuously in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, perfumery, aromatherapy, and other industries. So far, the development of the patchouli oil production process has not experienced much change. There is a current market demand for quality which tends to increase, and the patchouli oil industry in Indonesia must be able to follow this market demand. Therefore, research is needed on the essential oil of Java Patchouli (Pogostemon heyneanus) with water distillation and water-steam distillation methods to improve quality and quantity. Patchouli parts used are stems and leaves. The distillation time was 6 hours and the distillation temperature was maintained at 1000C using a heating mantle. Then, patchouli oil quality analysis was carried out by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. Furthermore, the results obtained were the highest yield of oil found in the leaves, either by the water distillation method of 1.64%, or by the water-steam distillation method of 1.7%. In hydrodistillation, the specific gravity of P.heyneanus is 0.946 – 0.954 gr/ml (310C), whereas in the water-steam distillation method the refractive index can only be measured on leaves of 0.965 gr/ml (310C). In the water distillation method, the refractive index value of Javanese Patchouli (P.heyneanus) ranges from 1.500 – 1.504, while in the water–steam distillation the refractive index value ranges from 1.503 – 1.507. The main components present in Java Patchouli essential oil which can be identified through gas chromatography and mass spectrometry are α-pinene, β-pinene, caryophyllene, and patchouli alcohol. Of these four components, the content of patchouli alcohol is the highest in patchouli oil. The percentage of area in the leaves for all components is the largest, then the stem-leaf mixture and the smallest is the stem.