Chemical composition, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of Algerian Citrus sinensis essential oil extracted by hydrodistillation assisted by electromagnetic induction heating.

Hydro-distillation assisted by electromagnetic induction heating (H-EMIH) was employed to extract essential oil (EO) from Algerian fresh orange peels (Citrus sinensis). H-EMIH was compared with conventional hydro-distillation (C-H) in terms of hydro-distillation time, yield, chemical composition and, antibacterial and antioxidant activities. It was found that extraction of EO with H-EMIH gave a maximal yield of 3.77% in 35 min whereas C-H gave 2.72% in 41 min. The extracts obtained by both techniques were analyzed by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. Their chemical compositions are relatively similar; limonene and β-myrcene were found as the principal compounds. The antioxidant activity results demonstrated that EO extracted by H-EMIH showed the highest capacity of radical scavenging than EO isolated by C-H process. Otherwise, it was found that EO extracted by H-EMIH exhibited an antimicrobial potential slightly higher than that extracted by C-H. © Association of Food Scientists & Technologists (India) 2020.