Separation Process of Citronellal and Rhodinol from Citronella Oil using Vacuum Fractionations at Pilot Plant Scale

: The aim of this work was to separate major components from citronella oil using vacuum distillation fractionation method. Operating condition that used in this study is vacuum pressure 10-30 mmHg. This process depends on the pressure and temperature of the system, as well the physical and chemical characteristics of the components to be separated.Based on GC-MS analysis of Citronella Oil is known that citronellal, citronellol, and geraniol has yielded 7,42%; 11,25%; and 31,68%, respectively. Fractional distillation under reduced pressure can isolate major component like limonene,citronellal,citronellol and rhodinol with higher purity 55.56%; 25.57%; and 46.19%, respectively .