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Lemon grass ( Cymbopogon spp) are fast-growing perennial sedges from the grass family Poaceae and are primarily cultivated for their essential oils. The genus lemongrass comprises about 180 species. Lemongrass cultivation is a rapidly growing economy. The major drive for lemongrass cultivation is its high industrial potential in the pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetics sectors. A recent report by Plofshare Market Research pinned the global lemongrass oil market at 247 million dollars in 2019 and expects it to grow to 421 million dollars by 2027, at a compound annual growth rate of 7%.
Lemongrass oil is used in culinary flavouring. It is used in most of the major categories of food including abeverages, frozen dairy desserts, candy baked foods, gelatines and puddings, meat and meat products and fat and oils. It is used to improve the flavour of some fish . Lemongrass oleoresin is mainly used in flavouring foods, drinks and bakery preparations. Traditionally lemongrass is developed for perfumery with emphasis on citral content.
Lemon grass essential oil is comprised of a high content of citral, which is used as a source for the production of beta carotene and vitamin A etc. Hence, due to the presence of various chemical constituents present in lemon grass oil, it uses in different pharmaceutical industries for its anti-depressant, analgesic, antipyretic, bactericidal, anti-septic, carminative and astringent properties.
steam distillation
Lemongrass essential oil (LEO) carries a significant amount of numerous bioactive compounds, such as citral (mixture of geranial and neral), isoneral, isogeranial, geraniol, geranyl acetate, citronellal, citronellol, germacrene-D, and elemol, in addition to other bioactive compounds.