Essential Oil from Lemon Peel (Citrus lumion) and application in Skin-Care Lotion
Oragwu Ifeoma Perpetua *
Department of Pure and Industrial Chemistry, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Uli, Anambra State, Nigeria.
C. U. Ugwu Shadrack
Department of Polymer & Textile Engineering, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Essential oil from peels of lemon (Citrus Lumion) fruit had been evaluated for its physiochemical, phytochemical compositions and application in skin-care product. Lemon peel oil, which is one of the under-utilized essential oil was isolated from the matured fruits peel using petroleum ether by soxhlet extraction method. The percentage yield of 3.7 %, for air-dried peels and 2.30 %, for fresh peels are acceptable for most plants essential oils. The ash content of both the dried and fresh peels were 1.42 ± 0.001 and 4.007±0.003. Some phytochemicals like, saponins, flavonoids, terpenes, carbohydrates, tannins, were determined using standard methods. The lemon-peel-oil skin-lotion formulation was carried out by mixing 5 ml of the peel oil sample with corresponding mass of basic lotion compositions, in water base-tank, and homogenously mixed in oil base-tank under 700 C. The pH range(6.30), viscosity, spreadability, and properties of the lotion were compared to the non-lemon-oil lotion and to a commercial grade skin lotion.
Keywords: Lemon peel, essential oils, soxhlet-extraction, phyto-chemicals, skin-care lotions