Lemon grass Oil

Chemical property

Light yellow to light brown liquid with sweet lemon and herb notes. It is miscible in benzyl benzoate, diethyl phthalate, vegetable oil and propylene glycol. Insoluble in glycerol and water, the East Indian type is easily dissolve in ethanol]. But the West Indian type can produce turbidity. Partial destruction can occur under alkaline conditions. Inorganic acids can polymerize it, and it is stable to weak organic acids.

Use of Lemon grass Oil

China’s GB 2760-96 provisions for the permitted use of edible spices. Widely used in all kinds of food.

Production Method

Baisfu Lemon grass Oil is compose of Cymbopogon citratus (Cymbopogon citratus. West Indian lemongrass) or sinuous lemongrass (C. flexuosus; A fresh or lightly dried whole plant of East Indian lemongrass obtain by cutting and steam distillation. The yield is 0.2% ~ 0.8%. The East Indian type is mainly produce in India and has a small production. The West Indian type is found in Haiti, Honduras,  Guangxi, and other places also produced.

Content Analysis

Take a sample of 50.0ml, add 500mg tartaric acid 1 and mix. Shake for 5 minutes and strain. Lemon grass Oil was dry with anhydrous sodium sulfate, absorbed 10.0ml. And transferred to a 150ml graduated fine-necked flask. The remaining oil sample was kept for the following steam distillate oil test. Add 75ml 30% sodium bisulfite solution, plug the cap tightly. shake until sodium bisulfite produces semi-solid to solid admixture. Let stand at room temperature for 5min, relax the cork. soak the flask in a water bath and heat it to 85-90 ℃.

Keep the temperature of the water bath, shake the flask occasionally, until the admixture is dissolve. And then heat continuously and shake intermittently for 30min. When the two liquid layers are completely stratifie. Add enough sodium bisulfite solution to make the oil layer liquid level rise to the scale of the bottleneck. Then calculate the percentage of citral by volume according to the following formula: