A cutting-edge assessment of recent advancements in essential oils extraction technologies for energy and ecological sustainability: A comprehensive review

Hydrodistillation (HD) systems have been popular for essential oils extraction from medicinal and aromatic plants for several decades. Nevertheless, they substantially consume thermal or electrical energy and have a visible carbon footprint on the environment. This article describes a state-of-the-art review of the HD systems used for essential oil extraction to examine their effectiveness. From this study, it has been found that, for a microwave-assisted system, the yield of an essential oil varies from 0.079% to 8.62%. The microwave-assisted hydrodistillation (MAHD) system yields 32% more than a conventional HD system. The average extraction time saved using the MAHD system is 67.17% compared with the traditional one. Ohmic-assisted HD system is better than the microwave-assisted and conventional HD system, with an 18.04% enhancement in the yield. During this study, it is also investigated that for the distillation system operating at atmospheric pressure, the extraction temperature ranges from 80 & DEG;C to 120 & DEG;C. This temperature can easily be attained in a solar hydrodistillation system. Several investigators have demonstrated the use of solar energy for essential oil extraction. However, these systems mostly use a concentrating collector, henceforth found bulky and expensive.