Abstract:
Composition of cinnamon bark oil varies due to many factors including the type and
quality of cinnamon chips. Good quality cinnamon chips can be produced by uniform drying. Present
study examines the effect of air drying temperature of cinnamon chips on the volatile components of
cinnamon bark oil extracted by the method of hydro-distillation. Laboratory scale tunnel dryer fitted
with an electrical heater was used to dry cinnamon chips at five different air drying temperatures;
ambient temperature, 35 °C, 40 °C, 45 °C and 50 °C. The extracted cinnamon bark oil was analyzed by
gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A total of 16 compounds were identified,
cinnamaldehyde-E, cinnamyl acetate, linalool and eugenol, in that order, being the main components.
Cinnamon chips could be air dried at 35 °C without significantly (at a=0.05) affecting the quality. The
effect of hot air drying at temperatures above 35 °C on the volatile components of cinnamon bark oil
was found to be significant at a=0.05. Increase in air drying temperature resulted in substantial losses
in concentrations of certain monoterpenes, oxygenated terpenes and sesquiterpenes. The percentage of
cinnamaldehyde-E could be substantially increased by hot air drying but at the expense of oil yield.
