Water Evaporation Characteristics and Oil Quality of Asteromyrtussymphyocarpa Cajuput Leaves

This paper studies the water evaporation characteristicsand oil quality of cajuput leaves on various growth level. Sample were obtained from Wasur National Park, that includes nine plants represent three growth stages: tree, poles and sapling. Three branches were takn from each growth stages representing leaf density: dense, medium and less dense. Initial fresh condition of branches were weighed and water evaporation was calculatedasweightreductionof branchesduringfivedaysconsecutivedrying.Twelvekilogramof leaveswerethendistilled inthekettlebymeansof steamingmethod.Distillationprocesswererepeatedfivetimestoreplicatetheprocessesstudiedand during distilation process which took about 4-5 hours, cajuput oils were collected every 30 minutes. The results show that fresh leaves collected from poles branches wre the heaviest leaves that weight 163.56 g/branch, followed by fresh leaves collected from tree and sapling that weight 160.22 g/branch and 142.33 g/branch respectively. The highest water evaporation rate was achieved by tree branches (7.89 g/day), followed by poles (6.47 g/day) and sapling (6.28 g/day). Cajuput oil of yield is 0.33%, with the specific grafity of 0.912, refractive index of 1.459, alcohol solubility of 1:1, optical rotation of -2.1 and cineole content of 80%. According to properties mentioned, cajuput oil of could satisfy The Indonesian Standard for cajuput oil (SNI 06-39542006)andclassifiedasthemain(U)oilquality.