ABSTRACT
Lemongrass is an herb that is widely distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, Africa, Australia, and America. In India, lemongrass is widely cultivated in the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu in the southern region, parts of Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal in the northern region, and Assam in the northeast region. The common methods to extract essential oil from lemongrass are hydrodistillation (HD), steam distillation, and water distillation. The quality of lemongrass oil obtained by pressurized liquid extract (PLE) was compared with that of conventional extraction methods, hydrodistillation, and the Soxhlet extraction method. Various methods have been reported in literature for the estimation of citral in lemongrass oil, and also for the separation of citral from lemongrass oil. The constituents of lemongrass oil are selective and have little or no harmful effect on the environment and the nontarget organism.
