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Department of Technological Engineering, Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Priština - Kosovska Mitrovica , Mitrovica , Kosovo
Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade , Belgrade , Serbia
Department of Technological Engineering, Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Priština - Kosovska Mitrovica , Mitrovica , Kosovo
Department of Technological Engineering, Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Priština - Kosovska Mitrovica , Mitrovica , Kosovo
Department of Technological Engineering, Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Priština - Kosovska Mitrovica , Mitrovica , Kosovo
, Innovation Center of the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade , Belgrade , Serbia
Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts , Nis , Serbia
The composition of the essential oil of juniper (Juniperus communis L.) depends on plant age, geographical origin, fruit maturity, etc. Nevertheless, juniper essential oil mainly consists of terpene hydrocarbons: monoterpenes (up to 85%) and sesquiterpenes ( up to 27%), along with their oxygenated derivatives (up to 4%). Consequently, researchers look for the most effective methods for separating juniper essential oils into pure components or their fractions. This research is focused on isolating essential oil fractions and analyzing their composition during hydrodistillation (HD) and microwave-assisted hydrodistillation (MAHD) processes. It was observed that the composition of the juniper essential oils undergoes significant changes during the process. The concentration of easily volatile components was the highest in the early fractions, while less volatile components dominated the final fraction. Comparing the fractionation techniques, it can be concluded that a similar percentage of components are separated within 10 minutes using HD compared to 9 minutes with MAHD. Furthermore, when using juniper fruits that were pre-swollen for 24 hours, the HD for 10 minutes gave better results than the MAHD for 9.5 minutes.
Juniperus communis L., essential oil, hydrodistillation, microwaveassisted hydrodistillation, fractionation
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