Innovative Technology of Continuous-Steam Distillation with Packed Column to Obtain Essential Oil-Differentiated Fractions from Mexican Lime (Citrus aurantifolia)

Continuous distillation (CD) by steam is a patented emerging technology that allows us to obtain essential-oil fractions from citrus juices. It presents benefits such as reducing steam consumption by 50%, lowering environmental impact, and, by its design, obtaining fractions enriched in terpenic and oxygenated compounds that can be further processed. The CD of essential oils from Mexican lime juice (Citrus aurantifolia) was studied and the results were compared with conventional steam distillation (batch) in terms of steam consumption, extraction yield, chemical composition, and quality of the essential oils. Different steam flows were used: distillation without a packed column (sc); with packed column (cc); and steam flows of 10, 15, and 20 mL/min with a reflux ratio of 0.5, 1, and 2, respectively. CD was superior in terms of composition, extraction energy savings (0.63 kg steam/kg juice with 1.39 kg steam/kg juice in the conventional), and the extraction yield recovery efficiency was >90%. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis of the extracted essential oils indicated that the use of CD with a column increases the fractionation of volatile compounds. The result of this study demonstrates that CD can be used as an alternative method to extract the essential oil from lime or any citrus fruit, obtaining differentiated fractions in aroma and composition.