Perpustakaan Digital ITB

Clove (Syzygium aromaticum) is a native species from Indonesia. Indonesia is one of the biggest producers of clove with Java and Manado as the biggest producing region. Essential oil from clove contains eugenol as the biggest component followed by eugenyl acetate and beta caryophyllene. This essential oil has several pharmacological effects such as antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory and as anesthetic. The produced clove oils by producers and farmers from Indonesia generally have not fulfilled the requirements set by BSN through SNI 06-2387-2006. The color of the clove oil produced usually have blackish brown color due to the contamination of colored compounds such as Fe, Mg, Mn, Zn and Pb metal ion. Therefore, the quality enhancement of the produced clove oil is needed to fulfill the requirements of BSN and to achieve high grade and quality. Re-distillation using steam distillation, adsorption using bentonite and adsorption using activated carbon (Norit) are easy, simple and relatively cheap methods commonly used for purification and experimentation is conducted to determine which of the three methods would be better in enhancing the quality of the crude clove oil. The crude clove oil is obtained from one of clove oil producers located in Bandung. The crude clove oil quality is then determined in accordance to SNI 06-2387-2006. Crude clove oil is then treated with steam distillation, non-activated bentonite, KOH activated bentonite and Norit (activated carbon) and the quality is again determined in accordance to SN 06-2387-2006 after the treatment. Non-activated bentonite clarified the color from blackish brown to light brown, increased eugenol content from 80.7% to 84% and reduced the density from 1.088 g/mL to 1.045 g/mL. KOH activated bentonite clarified the color to yellowish brown, increased the eugenol content to 85.6% and reduced the density to 1.037 g/mL. Norit (activated carbon) clarified the color to dark brown, increased the eugenol content to 82.3% and reduced the density to 1.070 g/mL. Unfortunately the steam distillation method is unable to be conducted due to the current pandemic as the laboratory was temporarily closed as part of the government regulation. However, it is hoped that by using all glasses materials for the steam distillation a clear clove oil would be produced with high recovery rate with the colored compounds left behind in the residue.