Abstract

This research is aimed to improve the quality of vetiver oils from smallholders in Indonesia by vacuum distillation. The most important parameters of quality mentioned are total vetiverol content and color. It was shown that vetiverol contents could be increased to achieve the required minimum content of 50%. The better the initial sample, the better the distillate obtained. Distillate fractions obeying standard vetiverol content could be obtained with yield of 60%~80%. Although the initial samples were black in color, the distillates had appearance from yellow to reddish brown, as required by the standard, with Gardner scales of color ranging from 10.8 to 14.7. Distillation, however, slightly disturbed the achievement of other parameters including density, acid number and ester number. Lower distillation fractions tend to shift the values of these parameters to out of standards.