About the extraction in microwave field of the essential oils and beta-carotene from carrots

Carrot root has been used for medicinal purposes from ancient times, being well known its beneficial properties as follow: anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, antioxidant, hypoglycemic oil of carrot. The paper presents a study regarding an extraction method of volatile oil from carrot root using microwave energy and ethyl alcohol as a solvent. The yield of extraction was examined in a series of experiments in order to determine the effect of process parameters - initial temperature, the temperature of extraction and the particle size of carrot used. The experiments conducted for the extraction of beta-carotene from carrots were performed in various conditions involving different temperatures and processing of the samples using ethanol as solvent. The samples used for the extraction were tested at 40°C, 50°C, 60°C and 80°C. It was observed that the solubility and the yield of carotene from carrots depends on the temperature and time of extraction. It has been shown that the most efficient extraction was performed with samples dried, using a temperature range of 65° ÷ 75°C for a period of 4–5 hours. At higher temperatures the sample was destroyed.