Response surface methodology for optimization studies of microwave-assisted extraction of sandalwood oil

Microwave-assisted extraction (mae) technique was employed to extract the essential oil from sandalwood (santalum album l.). the optimal conditions for microwave-assisted extraction of sandalwood oil were determined by response surface methodology. a central composite design (ccd) was applied to evaluate the effects of three independent variables (microwave power (a: 400-800 w),plant material to solvent ratio (b: 0.10-0.20 g ml-1) and extraction time (c: 40-120 min)) on the extraction yield of sandalwood oil. the correlation analysis of the mathematical-regression model indicated that quadratic polynomial model could be employed to optimize the microwave extraction of sandalwood oil. the optimal extraction conditions of sandalwood oil was microwave power 558.071w,plant material to solvent ratio 0.100274 g ml-1 and extraction time 101.688 min. the maximum sandalwood oil yield was 0.655534 g/100g dry weight under these optimal conditions. under the extraction condition,the experimental values agreed with the predicted results by analysis of variance. it indicated high fitness of the model used and the success of response surface methodology for optimizing and reflect the expected extraction condition.