The operating parameters considered for the modeling and optimization are specific area of raw materials, moisture content of feedstock, and steam rate. Experimental data show that the oil yield from steam distillation of Vietnam lemongrass is significantly affected by the three mentioned factors. Box-Behnken design (BBD) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) are used to examine the effects of operating parameters on the extraction efficiency. On the basis of the measurements and RSM, a quadric regression model as a function of steam rate, specific area and moisture content of materials is estimated. | Vietnam Journal of Science and Technology 56 (2A) (2018 ) 11-16 EXPERIMENTAL AND MODELING STUDIES OF VIETNAM LEMONGRASS ESSENTIAL OIL EXTRACTION PROCESS USING RESPONSE SURFACE METHODOLOGY Nguyen Trung Dung, Ta Hong Duc, Nguyen Dang Binh Thanh* Hanoi University of Science and Technology, No. 1, Dai Co Viet, Ha Noi * Email: Received: 02 April 2018; Accepted for publication: 10 May 2018 ABSTRACT Natural precious products such as aroma compounds, essential oils, and bio-activated materials are usually extracted from about 30,000 botanical species. These extracts are often high competitive market due to their small content (less than 1 %) in plants and high purification cost. Thus, development of a modeling for the optimization of the crude oil extraction is highly paid attention. In this work, a modeling of Vietnam lemongrass oil extraction using steam distillation is developed and the optimization of the process parameters is performed using response surface methodology (RSM). The operating parameters considered for the modeling and optimization are specific area of raw materials, moisture content of feedstock, and steam rate. Experimental data show that the oil yield from steam distillation of Vietnam lemongrass is significantly affected by the three mentioned factors. Box-Behnken design (BBD) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) are used to examine the effects of operating parameters on the extraction efficiency. On the basis of the measurements and RSM, a quadric regression model as a function of steam rate, specific area and moisture content of materials is estimated. The optimized operating conditions of the lemongrass hydrodistillation are also obtained by applying the proposed modeling. Keywords: lemongrass essential oil, steam distillation, modeling, optimization, response surface methodology (RSM). 1. INTRODUCTION Response surface methodology (RSM) has been largely used for optimizing the operating conditions of a process. RSM
