JP2017048322A - Essential oil extraction method and essential oil product containing the essential oil - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides an essential oil extraction method capable of extracting an essential oil having a further superior fragrance from a plant as compared with conventional essential oil extraction methods, and an essential oil product containing the essential oil extracted by the essential oil extraction method.
In the essential oil extraction method for extracting essential oil from a plant, a plant freezing step for forming a frozen plant body in which any one or two or more of flowers, leaves, pericarps or fruits of the plant are frozen, and An essential oil extraction treatment step for subjecting the frozen plant body to an essential oil extraction treatment, and the essential oil extraction step includes a steam distillation step, a solvent extraction step, or a microwave extraction step.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to an essential oil extraction method for extracting essential oils from plant flowers, leaves, skins, etc., and an essential oil product containing the essential oils extracted by the essential oil extraction method.

Conventionally, an essential oil (essential oil) is known as an extract containing a plant-derived aromatic component. For example, neroli is known as an essential oil extracted from citrus flowers, and it produces a refreshing fragrance unique to citrus and is effective in preventing skin aging such as skin spots and wrinkles. . Therefore, neroli is used by being contained in cosmetics, or used as oil for facial massage.

Various methods have been proposed for producing such plant-derived aromatic component-containing extracts. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

JP 2013-203911 A

According to Patent Document 1, a method for producing a fragrant component-containing extract derived from a citrus plant, the method comprising a step of crushing, stirring, heating and decompressing the citrus plant in parallel. It is disclosed.

However, the inventor of the present invention thought that there was room for improvement in terms of the aroma of the extract even by the production method disclosed in Patent Document 1. Therefore, the inventors of the present invention have been searching for a method for extracting essential oils with excellent aroma, and when extracting essential oils after freezing the flowers of plants, the scent of the extracted essential oils is further improved. The headline, the present invention has been reached.

That is, the objective of this invention is providing the essential oil extraction method containing the essential oil extraction method and the essential oil which can extract the essential oil which was further excellent in fragrance from the plant compared with the conventional essential oil extraction method.

Invention of Claim 1 is the essential oil extraction method which extracts an essential oil from a plant. The plant freezing process which forms the frozen plant which frozen the site | part of the said plant, The essential oil extraction process which performs an essential oil extraction process to the said frozen plant The plant part is an essential oil extraction method comprising at least one part selected from the group consisting of flowers, leaves, pericarps and fruits of the plant.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the essential oil extraction method according to the first aspect, the essential oil extraction treatment step includes a solvent extraction step of immersing the frozen plant body in a solvent.

The invention of claim 3 is the essential oil extraction method according to claim 1, wherein the essential oil extraction treatment step includes a steam distillation step of distilling the frozen plant body in steam.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the essential oil extraction step according to the first aspect, the essential oil extraction treatment step includes a microwave extraction step of irradiating the frozen plant with microwaves.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the essential oil extraction method according to the second aspect, the solvent comprises a vegetable oil and an organic solvent.

Invention of Claim 6 is the essential oil extraction method in any one of Claims 1-5, The said plant consists of citrus fruits, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.

Invention of Claim 7 is the essential oil extracted by the essential oil extraction method in any one of Claims 1-6.

Invention of Claim 8 is an essential oil product containing the essential oil of Claim 7.

The present invention relates to an essential oil extraction method for extracting essential oil from a plant, a plant freezing step for forming a frozen plant body obtained by freezing the plant part, and an essential oil extraction processing step for subjecting the frozen plant body to an essential oil extraction process. And the plant part is configured to include one or more parts selected from the group consisting of flowers, leaves, pericarps and fruits of the plant, and thus the plant part to be extracted before extraction of essential oil is frozen. By making it let it be, the essential oil extraction method which can extract the essential oil which was further excellent in fragrance from the conventional essential oil extraction method can be provided.

In addition, since the essential oil extraction treatment step includes a solvent extraction step in which the frozen plant body is immersed in a solvent, it can be used in a state where the essential oil excellent in fragrance is contained in the solvent. Increases nature.

Moreover, since the said essential oil extraction process process is the structure containing the steam distillation process which distills the said frozen plant body in water vapor | steam, it becomes possible to extract the essential oil excellent in fragrance with a simple apparatus, and suppresses the manufacturing cost of essential oil be able to.

Moreover, since the said essential oil extraction process process is a structure containing the microwave irradiation process of irradiating the said frozen plant body with a microwave, the extraction time of essential oil can be made by heating the water | moisture content contained in a plant directly directly. It is possible to provide an essential oil extraction method that can be greatly shortened and that can improve the yield of essential oil.

Moreover, since the said solvent is a structure which consists of a vegetable oil and an organic solvent, the use to the skin external preparation etc. which can expect skin aging prevention and a moisturizing effect while being excellent in fragrance, spread.

Moreover, since the said plant is a structure which consists of citrus fruits, procurement of a raw material becomes easy and can provide the essential oil extraction method which can extract an essential oil easily.

It is a process flow figure explaining an essential oil extraction method concerning an embodiment of the present invention. It is a process flow figure explaining the essential oil extraction method concerning the 1st example of the present invention. It is explanatory drawing of the microwave extraction process which concerns on 2nd Example of this invention. It is a table | surface which shows the analytical value of the essential oil which concerns on 2nd Example of this invention.

Hereinafter, an essential oil extraction method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.
First, as shown in FIG. 1, in step S1, a frozen plant body in which, for example, a plant flower is frozen as a plant part is formed. For freezing, a freezing means such as a known freezer can be used, and the flower that has been picked is preferably brought into a freezer whose temperature is adjusted to, for example, −18 ° C. to −20 ° C. and rapidly frozen. Further, the plant part may include one or more parts selected from a group of parts consisting of flowers, leaves, pericarps and fruits of the plant. In addition, the frozen plant body may contain the frozen plant piece formed by crushing, after freezing the site | part of a plant so that it may mention later.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1, an essential oil extraction process is performed with respect to the frozen plant mentioned above in step S2. Examples of the essential oil extraction process in step S2 include a steam distillation process, a solvent extraction process, a microwave irradiation process, a vacuum distillation process, and the like.
The steam distillation step is a step of collecting the frozen plant body by, for example, putting the frozen plant into a distillation kettle and blowing the steam or boiling the water in the kettle and then evaporating the essential oil together with the steam.
Moreover, a solvent extraction process is a process collect | recovered by melt | dissolving essential oil from a plant using solvents, such as ether and jojoba oil, for example, and mentions later.
The microwave irradiation process will also be described later. Moreover, a vacuum distillation process is a process collect | recovered by heating under reduced pressure and evaporating essential oil.

In the following examples, examples using sweet summer mandarin flowers will be described.
Here, the sweet summer mandarin is a citrus fruit whose scientific name is Citrus natsudaidai or Citrus natsudaidai Hayata, and in Japan it is also called natsukan (natsukan) or natsudaidai (summer orange). This sweet summer mandarin is considered to be a variety of bitter orange (Citrus aurantium) that grows in the Mediterranean region. The sweet summer mandarin is rich in essential oil (also called neroli) extracted from the bitter orange. Contains a fresh fragrance peculiar to it.
In the following examples, sweet summer mandarin oranges were used that had been cultivated without agricultural chemicals (no chemical pesticides) for nearly 30 years.

Next, the components contained in the essential oil of the sweet summer mandarin flower will be described.
Ingredients contained in essential oils extracted from sweet summer mandarin flowers by steam distillation process, linalool, nerol, neryl acetate, geranyl acetate, citronellal, 2-ethylfuran, α-pinene, camphene, α-terpinene, D-limonene , Β-pinene, γ-terpinene, n-nonane, hexanal, Δ3-carene, β-myrcene, β-ferrandrene, 1,8-cineole, (Z) -β-osymene, p-cymene, terpinolene, n- Octanal, 1-hexanol, n-nonal, 7-tetradecene, p-isopropenyltoluene, 1,3,8-p-mentatriene, (Z) -limonene oxide, γ-elemene, δ-elemene, α-copaene, n-decanal, 1-octanol, linalyl acetate, α-santalen, β-elemene, β-caryophyllene, α-caryophyllene, α-tel Pineol, Germacrene D, β-Serinene, Valencene, γ-Serinen, γ-Gajunene, α-Farnesene, δ-Cadinene, γ-Cadinene, Perylaldehyde, α-Gaien, Peryl Acetate, p-Menta-1,8-Diene -9-ol, peryl alcohol, β-elemol, γ-eudesmol, δ-casminal, τ-casminal, β-eudesmol, τ-muurolol, spatulenol, 6-selinen-4-ol, dodecanoic acid, etc. was detected.

Among these components, linalool is also known as an aromatic component such as lavender and bergamot, and has antibacterial action, sedation action, and antioxidant action.
Nerol is also known as an aroma component contained in roses and the like, and has a skin elasticity recovery action.
Neryl acetate is also known as a component contained in lemon balm and petit glen, and has a sedative action and a sore action.
Geranyl acetate is also known as a component contained in roses and the like, and has a citrus fruity scent and an anti-inflammatory effect.
Citronellal is also known as a component contained in Eucalyptus and has a bactericidal action and a sore action.
2-Ethylfuran is a kind of vitamin C and has an antioxidant effect.
Α-Pinene is also known as the same component as the scent of pine resin and cypress, and has a relaxing effect and an appetite enhancing effect.
Camphene is also known as a component of camphor (serum essential oil) and has an antiseptic effect.
Α-Terpinene is also known as a lemon scent component and has an antioxidant effect.
D-limonene is also known as a component contained in citrus peel such as lemon, and has detergency and antibacterial action.
Β-Pinene is also known as a fragrance component contained in rosemary, lemon and the like, and has antibacterial action, anti-inflammatory action and the like.
Γ-Terpinene has also been reported as a scent component of forests and has antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects.

In particular, a component having a skin elasticity restoring action and an antioxidant action can be expected to have an anti-aging effect for preventing sagging, wrinkles, spots and the like on the skin. In addition, an aromatic component, aroma component or a component having a relaxing effect can be expected to have an aromatic action. Moreover, the component which has an antibacterial action and antiseptic effect can anticipate the effect which maintains the quality as a skin external preparation or cosmetics for a long term.

[Example 1]
Next, in Example 1, essential oil was extracted with the solvent extraction process with respect to the frozen plant mentioned above.
In this example, jojoba oil was used as a solvent.
Here, jojoba oil is a liquid oil extracted from the seeds of jojoba (Simoniasia chinensis) that grows in a very harsh natural environment of the desert. For this reason, jojoba oil has jojoba-specific components that prevent moisture loss, and this component has been reported to have many beneficial effects on the human body, including a skin moisturizing effect.

In addition, jojoba oil has excellent penetrability and is well used as a treatment oil not only for cosmetics but also for massage because it has a high absorbency and low oiliness to the skin. . As described above, jojoba oil has an excellent permeability to the skin, has a high absorbency to the skin, a little oily feeling, and a moisturizing effect.
As such jojoba oil, those commercially available as raw materials for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals can be used, but those cultivated without agrochemicals are desirable, similar to the above-mentioned sweet summer oranges. In this embodiment, unrefined jojoba oil is used, but not limited to unrefined jojoba oil, it may be refined.

This embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
First, the sweet summer mandarin flowers are picked. This sweet summer mandarin flower consists of petals, gargles, stamens, pistils, pollen, etc., and is blossomed and collected around May.
Next, as shown in FIG. 2, the sweet summer mandarin flower is frozen and a frozen plant body is formed (step S10).
The inventor tried to extract the essential oil of sweet summer mandarin flowers by immersing the sweet summer mandarin flowers in jojoba oil without being frozen at first, but there was a problem that the extraction amount was insufficient. And after trial and error, it discovered that sufficient extraction was attained by making it freeze before being immersed in jojoba oil. Thus, it is considered that once the sweet summer mandarin flower is frozen, the cell membrane of the sweet summer mandarin flower is destroyed during freezing, and the essential oil in the cell is easily extracted. For freezing, a known freezing means such as a freezer can be used, and the sweet summer mandarin blossoms are preferably brought into a freezer whose temperature is adjusted to, for example, −18 ° C. to −20 ° C. and rapidly frozen. Step S10 corresponds to the plant freezing step (step S1) described above.

Next, the frozen sweet summer mandarin flower is immersed in jojoba oil (step S12).
For example, a frozen sweet summer mandarin flower is immersed in jojoba oil in a glass container at room temperature and lightly stirred. At that time, the weight ratio of sweet summer mandarin flowers to jojoba oil (sweet summer mandarin flowers: jojoba oil) is preferably about 1: 2, for example. After a while, the temperature of jojoba oil decreases and solidifies at about 10 ° C., so it is left until jojoba oil liquefies again.

Next, when the jojoba oil is liquefied, the essential oil of sweet summer mandarin flowers is extracted (step S14).
Specifically, the glass container is stored for a predetermined time in a constant temperature bath or a cold bath where the temperature can be adjusted in a state where sweet summer mandarin flowers are immersed in jojoba oil as described above. During this storage, the sweet summer mandarin flower essential oil is extracted into jojoba oil.
The predetermined time for storage is preferably at least about 48 hours. The fragrance disappears from the sweet summer mandarin flowers taken out from the glass container after about 48 hours, and the fragrance starts from the jojoba oil. Therefore, it can be determined that the extraction of the essential oil has been completed. In this way, the essential oil of sweet summer mandarin flowers can be extracted into jojoba oil.

Next, since the essential oil-extracted jojoba oil obtained in step S14 contains sweet summer mandarin flowers, these are filtered (step S16).
Specifically, for example, large impurities such as petals may be filtered with nylon knit or the like having a loose mesh, and then fine impurities such as pollen may be filtered with filter paper or the like.

In this embodiment, for example, Step S12 and Step S14, or Step S12 to Step S16 constitute a solvent extraction step.
According to the present Example, the essential oil extraction jojoba oil from which the essential oil of the sweet summer mandarin flower was extracted in jojoba oil can be obtained. In addition to the moisturizing effect and the like of jojoba oil as described above, this essential oil-extracted jojoba oil is expected to have various actions (described above) of the essential oil of sweet summer mandarin flowers.

And the essential oil extraction jojoba oil of a present Example can be utilized as oil for skin care, aroma massage oil, etc., for example.
Moreover, it is good also as a cosmetic cream which mix | blended well-known beeswax with the essential oil extraction jojoba oil of a present Example. Furthermore, it is good also as cosmetic skin external preparations, such as milky lotion, lip balm, soap, by mix | blending other well-known natural origin raw material with the essential oil extraction jojoba oil of this embodiment.

In the above description, the sweet summer mandarin flower has been described as an integral flower comprising petals, gargles, stamens, pistils, pollen, etc., but the petals are extracted and frozen, and the essential oil is extracted from the petals in the same manner as described above. May be extracted. The essential oil of sweet summer mandarin flowers is more contained in petals compared with gag, stamen, pistil, pollen, etc., so it is possible to extract the essential oil of sweet summer mandarin flowers more efficiently and obtain a more fragrant essential oil Because it can.
Further, the solvent is not limited to jojoba oil, and for example, olive oil, almond oil, alcohol, ethyl acetate or the like may be used.

[Example 2]
Next, in Example 2, the frozen plant body was irradiated with microwaves to extract the essential oil.
FIG. 3 shows a state in which the essential oil E is extracted by the microwave irradiation device 10. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 10 denotes a microwave irradiation device, reference numeral 12 denotes a microwave generation tank, reference numeral 13 denotes a microwave control unit, reference numeral 14 denotes a container for storing a frozen plant, and reference numeral 16 denotes a thermometer. Reference numeral 18 denotes a first aggregation tube, reference numeral 20 denotes a second aggregation tube, and reference numeral 22 denotes a collection container for collecting the essential oil. Reference sign W1 is cooling water for the first aggregating pipe 18, and reference sign W2 is cooling water for the second aggregating pipe 20.

First, frozen sweet summer mandarin flowers were crushed with a crusher (not shown) to obtain frozen plant pieces P. Next, the frozen plant piece P goes through the microwave irradiation process as the essential oil extraction process (step S2) described above. In the microwave irradiation process, as shown in FIG. 3, the plant frozen piece P is transferred to the container 14 and placed in the microwave generation tank 12, and the microwave control unit 13 controls the microwave output, irradiation time, and the like. Set conditions and irradiate with microwaves. If it does so, the plant frozen piece P in the storage container 14 will be overheated, and the mixed gas F (refer FIG. 3) which the internal water and essential oil of the sweet summer mandarin flower evaporated and mixed will come out of the storage container 14. The mixed gas F is cooled while passing through the first flocculation tube 18 and the second flocculation tube 20 that follows the first flocculation tube 18, and the separated essential oil E is recovered in the recovery container 22.

In FIG. 4, the component analysis result of the essential oil E extracted by the present Example and the component analysis result at the time of irradiating a microwave without freezing a plant are shown as a comparative example. The left column of the table of FIG. 4 is the component name, and the amount of the component (wt%) is shown beside it. In FIG. 4, “Monoterpenes” is a classification name including “α-thugene” to “3-Carenene”, “Sequiterpenes” is a classification name including “Elemene” to “α-Serinene”, “Alcohls” "Represents a classification name including" Linaroll "to" Fanesol ", and a classification name including" Esters "" Nelloli oil "to" Linear Propanoate ".

“Frozen flowers (1 year or more)” indicates Sample 1 obtained by extracting a frozen summer of a sweet summer flower as a frozen plant body. At that time, microwave irradiation conditions were normal pressure, and 500 W microwave was irradiated with pulses for about 30 minutes.
Next, “Frozen flower (1 month)” indicates Sample 2 obtained by extracting a sweet summer flower frozen for 1 month as a frozen plant. At that time, microwave irradiation conditions were normal pressure, and 200 W microwave was irradiated with a pulse for approximately 90 minutes.
Next, “fresh flowers” indicates Comparative Example 1 in which sweet summer flowers that have not been frozen are extracted as raw materials. At that time, microwave irradiation conditions were normal pressure, and 200 W microwave was irradiated with a pulse for approximately 90 minutes.

As shown in FIG. 4, the component amount of D-Limonene (D-limonene), which is well known as an aromatic component, is 34.22 wt% in Sample 1, 13.13 wt% in Sample 2, and 7.80 wt in Comparative Example 1. %. That is, it can be seen that the essential oil extracted from the sweet summer mandarin flowers frozen for more than one year contains more D-Limone (D-limonene) than Sample 2 and Comparative Example 1.
In addition, it can be seen from FIG. 4 that Sample 1 contains a large amount of Linalool.

According to the essential oil extraction method of Example 2, it can be expected that the extraction time will be greatly shortened and the yield of the essential oil will be improved by about twice that of the conventional method. The reason for this is that by directly irradiating a frozen plant body with microwaves in a pulsed and / or continuous manner, the water contained in the flowers and leaves can be directly heated locally. It is thought that the internal pressure increases, the oil membrane is destroyed, and the yield of the essential oil is improved. At that time, valuable components in the essential oil can be recovered without deteriorating.

In the above-described examples, sweet summer mandarin flowers are exemplified, but the plant is not limited to sweet summer mandarin oranges, for example, citrus fruits such as lemon, shiqwasa, sudachi, grapefruit, yuzu, lavender, rosemary, lemongrass, lemon balm Herbs such as sage, peppermint and spearmint, roses and the like may be used. In addition, the plant part is not limited to flowers, and may include one or more parts selected from a part group consisting of plant flowers, leaves, pericarps and fruits.

As described so far, according to the present embodiment, for example, by using a simple device such as a freezer and a cold / hot bath, the essential oil having a more excellent fragrance is extracted from the plant than the conventional essential oil extraction method. A possible essential oil extraction method and an essential oil product containing the essential oil extracted by this essential oil extraction method can be provided.

Although some of the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, these are merely examples, and the present invention can be implemented in other forms with various modifications and improvements based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art. It is.

Claims (8)

In an essential oil extraction method for extracting essential oil from plants,
A plant freezing step of forming a frozen plant body by freezing the plant part;
An essential oil extraction treatment step for subjecting the frozen plant to an essential oil extraction treatment,
The plant part includes at least one part selected from the group consisting of flowers, leaves, pericarps and fruits of the plant. The essential oil extraction method according to claim 1, wherein the essential oil extraction treatment step includes a solvent extraction step of immersing the frozen plant body in a solvent. The essential oil extraction method according to claim 1, wherein the essential oil extraction treatment step includes a steam distillation step of distilling the frozen plant body in steam. The essential oil extraction method according to claim 1, wherein the essential oil extraction treatment step includes a microwave irradiation step of irradiating the frozen plant with microwaves. The essential oil extraction method according to claim 2, wherein the solvent comprises a vegetable oil and an organic solvent. The said plant consists of citrus fruits, The essential oil extraction method in any one of Claims 1-5 characterized by the above-mentioned. The essential oil extracted by the essential oil extraction method in any one of Claims 1-6. An essential oil product comprising the essential oil according to claim 7.

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