Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania » Eastern Regional Research Center » Sustainable Biofuels and Co-products Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #376721
Research Project: Enable New Marketable, Value-added Coproducts to Improve Biorefining Profitability

Location: Sustainable Biofuels and Co-products Research

Title: Insights into the chemical composition and bioactivities of citrus peel essential oils

Author
item SINGH, BALWINDER - Khalsa College
item SINGH, JATINDER - Guru Nanak Dev University
item KAUR, AMRITPAL - Guru Nanak Dev University
item Yadav, Madhav

Submitted to: Food Research International
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/13/2021
Publication Date: 2/27/2021
Citation: Singh, B., Singh, J.P., Kaur, A., Yadav, M.P. 2021. Insights into the chemical composition and bioactivities of citrus peel essential oils. Food Research International. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2021.110231.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2021.110231

Interpretive Summary: Citrus peel extracts are a rich in phenolics, including several classes of compounds with antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. These compounds have shown potential beneficial effects on human health. So, they can be used for various pharmaceutical and therapeutic purposes to increase the immunity of a body against microorganisms causing diseases. Such studies will benefit all citrus fruits growers and food processing industries by making use of citrus processing by-products.

Technical Abstract: Citrus peel (CP), a by-product of the citrus fruit processing, comprises nearly forty to fifty percent of the fruit portion. Interestingly, the essential oil (EO) is primarily concentrated in the peel portion of the citrus fruit. Extraction of CP essential oil (CPEO) is an effective way of utilizing the citrus fruit processing waste. The CPEO can be more efficiently recovered from CP waste by improving the efficiency of conventional extraction processes. The main components of CPEO include monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes and their oxygenated derivatives. Specifically, limonene is the major oil component identified in the peel of different citrus species. The health promoting biological activities of CPEO are an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antimicrobial and anticancer agents, thereby can be used as a source of functional components and preservatives for the development of nutritionally safe newer food products. This paper provides an in-depth knowledge about the chemical constituents and bioactivities of EOs extracted from peels of different citrus species.