ESSENTIAL OIL EXTRACTION OF NUTMEG (MYRISTICA FRAGRANS)

• Main Author: Hafidz Nurhadi, Haekal
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/54349
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans) is a potential herb plant that is widely used in various industries. The potential of nutmeg production in one tree reaches 800 – 2000 fruit/year. The parts of nutmeg that are used are the flesh, mace and nutmeg. Indonesia is the largest exporter of nutmeg from mace, seeds, and essential oil. Nutmeg essential oil can be obtained by refining the flesh, mace, and nutmeg which is a yield of 1 – 18% (ml/g of material). Nutmeg essential oil is an ingredient that is widely used in the industry of perfumes, food products, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. The research was carried out in several stages including looking at the effect of nutmeg picking age, material particle size, and distillation method, each of which was compared to the yield and essential oil (density, color, and aroma). The age of picking nutmegs used was the age of picking bejo/young (3 – 4 months), medium (4 – 5 months), and old (> 5 months). The particle sizes of the materials used were 20, 40, and 60 mesh. Meanwhile, the distillation method used is steam distillation and water distillation. The results showed that the bejo/young nutmeg produced the highest amount of essential oil yield, reaching 14,2% (v/wt). Furthermore, for the best material particle size is 20 mesh size with nutmeg essential oil yield which can be obtained from 7,4 – 14,2%. The best method is the steam distillation because it produces a higher yield of about 5,3 – 13% and odor, color, and density that agree with SNI-6-2388-2006.