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Comparative Studies of Drying Methods on Yield and

Composition of the Essential Oil of Cymbopogon
citratus
a a a
Vivek Kumar , Rishika Tewari & K. Singh
a
Department of Biochemical Engineering and Food Technology, Harcourt Butler
Technological Institute, Kanpur
Published online: 09 Jul 2015.

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To cite this article: Vivek Kumar, Rishika Tewari & K. Singh (2015) Comparative Studies of Drying Methods on Yield and
Composition of the Essential Oil of Cymbopogon citratus, Journal of Essential Oil Bearing Plants, 18:3, 744-750, DOI:
10.1080/0972060X.2014.935069

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 TEOP 18 (3) 2015 pp 744 - 750 744
ISSN Print: 0972-060X
ISSN Online: 0976-5026

Comparative Studies of Drying Methods on Yield and

Composition of the Essential Oil of Cymbopogon citratus

Vivek Kumar, Rishika Tewari* and K. Singh

Department of Biochemical Engineering and Food Technology,
Harcourt Butler Technological Institute, Kanpur
Received 03 July 2012; accepted in revised form 14 January 2013

Abstract: Lemongrass is a plant having large applications in pharmaceuticals, food, cosmetics, and
Downloaded by [New York University] at 15:54 10 July 2015

perfumery industry. It has a characteristic flavour of lemon and, because of that; it is commonly designated as
lemongrass. Its characteristic flavour is due to its composition, especially citral that presents great importance
to the industry. The effect of drying methods viz. hot air drying, microwave drying and sun drying on yield of
essential oil and composition of essential oil was evaluated. The hot air drying was done at 40, 50 and 60oC and
microwave drying was applied in four pulse combinations at power level of 900 W. The maximum essential oil
yield was obtained in sun dried sample (2.50 %) that was very near to the fresh sample (2.52 %). All drying
treatments showed no significant difference for the main components (Citral a and Citral b) of the essential oil
obtained from lemon grass, when compared to the fresh sample.

Key words: Lemongrass, microwave, hot air oven, sun drying, essential oil.

Introduction associated to aldehyde, alcohols and ketone which

Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) com-
monly known as “East Indian Lemongrass” is a
perennial and multicut aromatic grass. It is the
source of Lemongrass oil, a good source of natural
citral. Lemongrass presents a characteristic
flavour of lemon and, because of that, it is
commonly designated as lemongrass. Its
characteristic flavour is due to its composition,
especially citral that presents great importance to
the industry. The chemical composition of the
volatile oils can be variable, according to the
genetic diversity, habitat, weather and cultural
treatments. The importance of this species is due
to the presence of essential oil 3. The essential oil
is internationally known as “West-Indian
Lemongrass”. Essential oils are natural products
obtained from plants. They are formed by varied
and complex volatile mixtures of chemical
compounds, with predominance of terpene
*Corresponding authors (Rishika Tewari)
E-mail: < rishika.tewari@gmail.com >
are deposited in various structure of the plant 4.
Lemongrass contains mainly citral 8 and 1 to 2 %
essential oil on a dry basis 2. Citral of lemon-grass
is a natural combination of two isomeric alde-
hydes, namely isomers geranial (α-citral) and neral
(β-citral) 7. Other unusual active components are
limonene, citronellal, β-myrcene and geraniol 8.
Lemongrass oil is used as a basic raw material
for synthesis of ionone used for synthesis of a
number of useful aromatic compounds and
Vitamin A. Lemongrass oil is thus used as a main
substitute for ‘Cod liver oil’. Citral itself is used in
perfumery for various grades of soaps detergents,
cosmetics and flavor agent for soft drinks.
Consumption of lemongrass in Ayurvedic
preparation like Balm is also increasing. The crop
provides maximum herb yield from second and
third year after planting and thereafter declines.
Because of its industrial and medicinal and culinary
© 2015, Har Krishan Bhalla & Sons
 Vivek Kumar et al., / TEOP 18 (3) 2015 744 - 750
importance, its demand is increasing.
Most food flavorings are volatile and chemically
unstable in the presence of air, light, moisture and
high temperatures. This is the case of most
essential oils 1. The effect of drying on the compo-
sitions of the essential oils was extensively studied.
Mendes et al., 5 investigated the effect of natural
and artificial drying on the composition of the
essential oil of citronella and results indicated that,
the drying operation did not negatively influence
the composition of the volatile compounds.
The aim of this study was to investigate the
effect of drying methods viz, hot air oven drying,
microwave drying and sun drying on the yield and
composition of essential oil. The hot air oven drying
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was applied at 40, 50 and 60oC and microwave
applied at 900W for 9 min at various pulse
combinations. The hot air drying temperature and
microwave pulse combinations was optimized on
the basis of yield of essential oil. GLC analysis
was done on the optimized samples to find out the
effect of drying methods on the composition of
essential oil.
Materials and methods
Sample preparation
Lemongrass for this project has been taken
from Fragrance and Flavour Development centre
Fazalganj, Kanpur and stored at refrigerated
temperature before processing. Sample pre-
paration was done by cutting the lemongrass
leaves of six inches long for drying purposes. An
initial moisture content of the lemongrass was
determined by AOAC standard method. A single
pan, top loading digital electronic balance having
least count of 0.01 mg. (make A&D Co. Ltd. Sr.
No.12318317, made in Japan) was used for the
weighing purposes.
Gas liquid chromatography was done at Central
Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants
(Council of Scientific and Industrial Research)
Kukrail, Picnic Spot Road, Lucknow U.P. For this
analysis Perkin Elmer Auto System XLGC was
used.
Hot air oven drying
Clean, sorted lemongrass (200 gm) sample was
taken for hot air oven drying at temperature of
745
40±2oC, 50±2oC and 60±2oC. Grass was spread
in a thin layer on the tray. During drying weight of
the sample was recorded at regular interval of
times. Drying process was continued till the
moisture content reached to 10±1 % (wb). Thus
obtained hot air oven dried lemongrass was
subjected to hydro distillation process using
Clevenger apparatus .The essential oil thus
collected in the tube of apparatus was dried under
anhydrous sodium sulphate. The essential oil
content (Yield) in the lemongrass was calculated
by using following formula.
Essential oil obtained (ml)
Yield (%) x 100
Total weight of dried sample (g)
Microwave drying
The experimental setup used for the microwave
drying of lemongrass consists of a microwave
oven (LG Electronics India Pvt. Ltd., model MC
767 W) of rated capacity of 900 W at 2450 MHz.
Four combinations of microwave pulse, namely
combination 1 (2 min, 2 min, 2 min, 2 min, 1 min),
combination 2 (3 min, 2 min, 2 min, 1 min, 1 min),
combination 3 (3 min, 3 min, 1 min, 1 min, 1 min)
and combination 4 (3 min, 3 min, 2 min, 1 min,)
has been given to dry lemongrass using microwave
at 900 W. A glass container containing the material
to be dried was placed inside the microwave
cavity. About 150 g of grass samples was taken
for each drying experiment in the microwave oven
for different microwave pulse combinations. The
weight of the sample was recorded at every pulse
applied. The samples were dried till the moisture
content was reduced to 10±1 % (wb). Thus
obtained microwave dried lemongrass were
subjected to hydro distillation process using
Clevenger apparatus and yield of essential oil was
calculated by similar formula as given in hot air
oven drying section.
Sun drying
Open-air sun drying experiments were per-
formed during May and June 2010 in Kanpur. The
experimental setup was located at the open ground
to have a good view of the sun for direct radiation.
Sun drying experiments were performed in a
batch of three hours in a day during 12 to 3 pm to
 Vivek Kumar et al., / TEOP 18 (3) 2015 744 - 750
minimize the temperature variation during drying
process. After completion of first day of drying,
the samples were put in a dessicator to prevent
moisture transfer. Similar process was performed
next day till the moisture content reached around
10±1 % (wb).
A schematic diagram of the experimental setup
is shown in Fig. 1. A wire mesh tray of 300×400
cm2 size was used on which the lemongrass was
placed. Mass of drying sample was measured at
every hour intervals during the experiments. The
experiment was repeated three times for obtaining
more accurate results, then mean values were
calculated. Thus obtained sun dried lemongrass
was subjected to hydro distillation process using
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Clevenger apparatus and the yield of essential oil
was calculated by similar formula as given in hot
air oven drying section.
Gas-liquid chromatography
Gas-liquid chromatography was performed in a
chromatograph model PerkinElmer Auto System
XLGC with {Equity-5 (60 m x 0.32 mm)} column.
The temperature of the column can be varied from
about 50°C to 250°C. It is cooler than the injector
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of Sun drying system
746
oven, so that some components of the mixture
may condense at the beginning of the column. In
some cases, the column starts off at a low
temperature and then is made steadily hotter under
computer control as the analysis proceeds.
Results and discussion
Hot air oven drying behavior of lemongrass
The hot air drying data of lemongrass were
depicted in Table 1. The variation of moisture
content with drying time is shown in Fig. 2. Drying
rate decreased continuously with time and
decreasing moisture content. As indicated in this
curve, there was no constant drying rate period in
the drying of lemongrass. During the falling drying
rate period, the predominant mechanism of mass
transfer in the lemongrass is that of internal mass
transfer. The internal mass transfer was therefore
by molecular (liquid) diffusion or vapours diffusion
or by capillary forces in the interior (wet) region
of the product and the water was evaporated as
it reached the surface (negligible resistance to
mass transfer). The most probable mechanism
within all mechanisms governing moisture transfer
was that of liquid diffusion. From an examination
 Vivek Kumar et al., / TEOP 18 (3) 2015 744 - 750 747
Table 1. Hot air oven drying behavior of lemongrass Leaves

Moisture content (% wb)

No. Drying 40 o C 50 o C 60 o C
time (hrs.)

1 0.0 75.43 75.43 75.43

2 0.5 72.01 69.61 68.75
3 1.0 64.07 64.90 62.29
4 1.5 50.32 42.23 38.07
5 2.0 46.37 30.79 25.08
6 2.5 33.13 20.24 10.43
7 3.0 27.88 16.83 9.31
8 3.5 22.67 10.46 -
9 4.0 19.81 9.89 -
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10 4.5 17.22 - -
11 5.0 15.11 - -
12 5.5 13.07 - -
13 6.0 11.03 - -

Figure 2. Hot air oven drying curves of lemongrass

of the data in Table 1 it is obvious that drying at
lower temperature takes longer time to achieve
desired safe moisture content.
Microwave drying behavior of lemongrass
Microwave drying data of lemongrass at
different pulse combination has been given in
Table 2. It clearly reflects from the Fig. 3,
microwave combination 4 has higher drying rate
as compared to other combinations. The highest
moisture removal was observed around 23 % in
the first three minute pulse of the combination.
Total nine minute time was required in each
combination to reduce the moisture content of
lemongrass from 75.43 % to 10±1 %.
Sun drying behavior of lemongrass leaves
Fresh leaves of lemongrass were spread
 Vivek Kumar et al., / TEOP 18 (3) 2015 744 - 750 748
Table 2. Microwave drying behavior of lemongrass Leaves

No. Combination 1 Combination 2 Combination 3 Combination 4

Pulse Moisture Pulse Moisture Pulse Moisture Pulse Moisture
content content content content
( %wb) ( %wb) ( %wb) ( %wb)

1 2 min 58.45 3 min 52.54 3 min 52.54 3 min 52.54

2 2 min 40.95 2 min 39.65 3 min 37.54 3 min 37.54
3 2 min 30.54 2 min 28.76 1 min 27.50 2 min 19.04
4 2min 19.07 1min 18.78 1min 18.32 1min 10.55
5 1 min 10.98 1 min 10.78 1 min 10.76
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Figure 3. Microwave drying curves of lemongrass

uniformly on a tray and evenly exposed to sun
light for 9 hours. Moisture content of lemongrass
was estimated after each hour of drying. Sun
drying behavior of lemongrass leaves has been
given in Table 3. Moisture content reduction is
fast in first 4 hours of drying then it declines linearly
to safe moisture content. The rate of moisture
removal in sun drying was comparatively lower
as compared to hot air oven drying and microwave
drying.
Effect of drying methods on yield of essential
oil of lemongrass
Essential oil yield data of fresh wet lemongrass
and lemongrass dried by different operational
conditions of dying has been given in Table 4. It
was evident from the table that in hot air oven
dried lemongrass maximum yield of essential oil
(2.17 %) was obtained from the grass dried at
60oC and in microwave dried lemongrass maxi-
mum yield of essential oil (2.10 %) was obtained
from the grass dried by using microwave pulse
combination 4. This difference in the yield of
essential oil was observed due to the concentrated
drying of microwave. The sun dried sample gave
the better yield of essential oil (2.50 %) as
compared to other samples dried by hot air oven
and microwave pulse combinations. Maximum
 Vivek Kumar et al., / TEOP 18 (3) 2015 744 - 750 749
Table 3. Sun Drying behavior of lemongrass leaves

No. Drying time Moisture content

(hrs) (%wb)

1 0 75.43
2 1 60.02
3 2 50.55
4 3 40.27
5 4 30.12
6 5 22.67
7 6 19.67
8 7 15.65
9 8 12.90
10 9 10.53
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Table 4. Effect of drying methods on yield of essential oil of lemongrass

No. Conditions of lemongrass Essential oil yield (%)

1 Fresh wet 2.54

2 Hot air oven dried (400 C) 1.54
3 Hot air oven dried (500 C) 1.92
4 Hot air oven dried (600 C) 2.17
5 Microwave dried (Combination 1) 1.50
6 Microwave dried (Combination 2) 1.75
7 Microwave dried (Combination 3) 1.90
8 Microwave dried (Combination 4) 2.10
9 Sun dried 2.50

yield of essential oil was obtained in sun dried
grass; this is because of the fact that minimum
volatile component of essential oil is lost in sun
drying. Mechanical drying like oven and
microwave drying did not retained its volatile
component so yield is less. The results are in
agreement with the observation of Peisino et al.
(2005)[6] for hot air drying of lemongrass.
Effect of drying methods on composition of
essential oil of lemongrass
The chromatographic analysis was done with
the objective to compare the compositions of the
essential oils extracted from fresh grass and dried
grass. Fresh wet sample and dried grass samples
that gave the best yield of essential oil in each
method of drying were selected for chromato-
graphic analysis. The two major components of
essential oil from lemon grass are Citral a and
Citral b which were analyzed probably because
they have highest volatilization temperatures and
does not volatilize out during the drying process.
Citral is mainly formed by combining the isomers
of Neral and geranial. From the results showed in
Table 5, it was observed that lemongrass was rich
in Citral a. The essential oil obtained from the fresh
leaves, Citral content is 36.21 % which gets
decreases to some extent in the sun dried sample
(35.30 %), hot air oven dried at 60oC sample (35.26
%) and microwave dried by using pulse
combination 4 sample (34.43 %). The Citral b
values slightly increases in sun dried sample (26.54
%), hot air oven dried at 60oC sample (27.42 %)
and microwave dried by using pulse combi-nation
4 sample (26.32 %) as compared to fresh leaves
citral b content 26.21 %. During drying process
 Vivek Kumar et al., / TEOP 18 (3) 2015 744 - 750 750
Table 5. Effect of drying methods on composition of essential oil of lemongrass

Conditions of lemongrass Citral a (%) Citral b (%)

Fresh wet 36.21 26.21

Hot air oven dried 35.26 27.42
Microwave dried 34.43 26.32
Sun dried 35.30 26.54

the oxidation of geraniol into geranial increases
and oxidation of nerol into neral decreases. So
that no significant variation was observed in citral
a and citral b due to nullifying effect of oxidation
of geraniol and nerol during drying and distillation
process. Slight decrease and increase in citral a
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grass extracted by hydrodistillation. Sun drying
methods gave the best yield of essential oil
followed by hot air oven drying performed at 60oC
and microwave drying at combination 4. It has
been found that the essential oil composition of
fresh wet lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus)

and citral b respectively in essential oil composition
obtained from lemongrass dried by different drying
methods and essential oil of fresh leaves sample
was observed probably due to the conversion of
citral a isomers into citral b isomers during drying
process.
Conclusion
Effects of drying methods were studied on the
yield and composition of essential oil of lemon
represents citral a 36.21 % and citral b 26.21 %
of the total volume. Citral a content decreases
around 2 % and citral b content increases around
1.5 % in different drying methods in comparison
with fresh lemongrass leaves lemongrass. Slight
decrease and increase in citral a and citral b
respectively was observed probably due to the
conversion of citral a isomers into citral b isomers
during drying process.

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