Rose Essential Oil Extraction from Fresh Petals Using Synergetic Microwave & Ultrasound Energy: Chemical Composition and Antioxidant Activity Assessment

The aim of the present work was to investigate the synergetic effect of microwave and ultrasound treatment on the production, chemical composition and antioxidant activity of rose essential oil. The rose essential oil was extracted from fresh Rosa x damascena Mill. petals by four methods, hydrodistillation, steam distillation, organic solvent extraction and ultrasounds followed by microwave hydrodistillation. The chemical composition of the extracts was analysed by GC-MS, and the antioxidant capacity by DPPH. It was found that both chemical composition and the antioxidant activity of the extracts depend on the extraction method. Overall it was found that microwaves coupled with ultrasonic treatment can be used effectively for the intensification of the extraction of monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes—fragrance bearing molecules—and equally, for increased antioxidant activity while using about 4 time shorter extraction time. The scale-up of the method was also evaluated. The results obtained in this research support the possible use of the US/MW method for the extraction of rose essential oil for the pharmaceutical and fragrance industry.