A Research on the Element Concentration and Evaluation Possibilities of Distillation Residue in Oil-bearing Rose (Rosa damascena Mill.)

The flowers of oil-bearing rose (Rosa damascena Mill.) with characteristic floral scents are the most important source for parfüme, cosmetic, pharmaceutical and food industries. Rose aromatic extracts such as rose oil and rose water obtianed by hydro-distillation, rose concrete and rose absolute obtained by solvent extraction of fresh rose flowers are highly valuable and expensive base materials for these industries. During the hydro-distillation of fresh rose flowers is processed, about 3 times more water of the fresh flower mass is used. At the end of the distillation, the residue containing over 90% water was produced as waste products. The residue is not economically assessed, but it also causes environmental pollution. In this study, the element contents of dried rose residue were determined to reveal the potential of evaluating rose residues as organic fertilizer or compost. As a result of the research, 16 different elements were detected in dried rose residue: nitrogen (3.497%), calcium (1.544%), potassium (0.335%), magnesium (0.258%) and phosphorus (0.251%) were among the macro nutrient elements, and sodium (%0.191), silisium (%0.157), iron (0.466 mg/g), manganese (0.130 mg/g), zinc (0.045 mg/g), copper (0.039 mg/g) and boron (0.038 mg/g), were among the micro nutrient elements. It was found that heavy metals which are not among the plant nutrients such as aluminum (0.306 mg/g), tin (0.109 mg/g), nickel (0.003 mg/g) and lead (0.001 mg/g) in the rose residue. However, the amounts determined for these heavy metals were found to be below the upper limit values.