Vol. 11, Issue 10 (2022)

A comparison was done between microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) and hydrodistillation (HD) for the extraction of essential oil (EO) from the dried Mentha spicata leaves. This study analyzed the oil yield, antioxidant activity, and chemical composition of MAE-spearmint essential oil (SEO) and HD (control sample). Microwaves obtained maximum oil yield due to their mass and heat transfer acting similarly. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis showed the differences between the chemical compounds of essential oils extracted by MAE in comparison with HD. DPPH radical scavenging activity of the MAE-SEO showed that microwave irradiation has stronger antioxidant activity than the control sample. The results obtained from this study indicate that the MAE technique can be mentioned as a green technology due to its minimal energy consumption for the extraction of EO.