The effect of material amount in distillation tank to chemical composition of citronella oil (Cymbopogon nardus L. Rendle)

The need for essential oils such as citronella oil, has increased along with the development of modern industries such as perfume, cosmetics, food, aromatherapy, and medicine industries. In the recent year, the volume of essential oil export is decreased, this due to quality issues. The purpose of this study was to determine the chemical composition of citronella oil using GC-MS (Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy) method using different amount of material in the refining tank of distillation (A = 40 kg; B = 50 kg; C = 60 kg; D = 70 kg; and E = 80 kg). The results showed that the highest percentage of citronella oil was found in A method when compared to the other method. The oil resulted, contain three main components namely citronellal (41.97%), geraniol (18.89%), and citronellol (12.91%). This research concludes that the more the amount of raw material in the refining tank will decreases the percentage of three main components (citronellal, geraniol, and citronellol) of oil resulted.