Eugenol Production from Clove Oil in Pilot Plant Scale for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME)

Abstract

: Clove oil was the largest essential oil commodity in Indonesia and production at Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) was still below the standard quality due to low eugenol levels (70-80%). The eugenol level can be increased by isolation which generally can be carried out by saponification and neutralization methods. This method was the most widely used, inexpensive, and easy to scale-up from the laboratory scale to the pilot plant scale. In this research, the production of eugenol from clove oil has been carried out in a pilot plant scale with stages of saponification reaction using sodium hydroxide and neutralization using sulfuric acid followed by vacuum distillation. All stages of this process produce eugenol with a yield of 50.25%, and an increase in eugenol levels from 75% to 98%. The eugenol production technology that has been carried out was expected to provide a solution for the small clove oil industry to improve its quality.