Microwave-assisted steam distillation (MSD) was developed as an efficient technique for the separation of essential oil (EO) from tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa Andrews) petals, on the basis of ensuring the extraction of flavonoids. During MSD process, the raw material was separated from water to keep it in a relatively dry state, thus contributing to the subsequent extraction of flavonoids. In this work, the optimization of MSD process was conducted to obtain the optimum conditions (1.7 mL/g water ratio for soaking, 1 h soaking time, 540 W microwave irradiation power and 30 min microwave irradiation time) and high yield of EO (0.66 ± 0.03 mg/g). The MSD technique was compared with other reference methods in terms of kinetic model fitting, economic value, environmental impact, EO composition and antioxidant activity. The result pointed out that the MSD method could be reasonably fitted by first-order kinetic model, was environmentally friendly and economically sustainable, provided higher separation efficiency, required lower energy consumption, and had certain advantages in the separation of EO with higher proportion of oxygenated components and better antioxidant activity. Furthermore, microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) of flavonoids from the petal residues obtained after MSD showed better result than that obtained after microwave hydrodistillation, and the result was comparable with MAE and heat reflux extraction. Overall, MSD is a potential and powerful alternative to traditional methods for the efficient distillation of EO, on the premise of reducing the loss of flavonoids etc. non-volatile components.

微波辅助蒸汽蒸馏（MSD）是一种从牡丹（Paeonia suffruticosa）中分离精油（EO）的有效技术安德鲁斯）花瓣，在确保提取黄酮类化合物的基础上。在MSD过程中，将原材料与水分离，以使其处于相对干燥的状态，从而有助于后续提取类黄酮。在这项工作中，对MSD工艺进行了优化，以获得了最佳条件（1.7毫升/克的浸泡水比，1小时的浸泡时间，540 W微波辐射功率和30分钟的微波辐射时间）和EO的高收率（0.66）。 ±0.03 mg / g）。在动力学模型拟合，经济价值，环境影响，EO组成和抗氧化活性方面，将MSD技术与其他参考方法进行了比较。结果表明，MSD方法可通过一阶动力学模型合理拟合，既环保又经济可持续，具有较高的分离效率，所需的能源消耗少，并且具有较高的含氧成分比例和较好的抗氧化活性，在分离EO方面具有一定的优势。此外，微波辅助萃取从MSD后获得的花瓣残留物中提取黄酮类化合物的效果优于微波加氢蒸馏后获得的结果，该结果可与MAE和热回流萃取相媲美。总体而言，在减少黄酮类化合物等非挥发性成分损失的前提下，MSD是有效蒸馏EO的传统方法的潜在而强大的替代品。微波辅助萃取得到的花瓣残留物中的黄酮类化合物的微波辅助萃取效果优于微波加氢蒸馏后的结果，该结果可与MAE和热回流萃取相媲美。总体而言，在减少黄酮类化合物等非挥发性成分损失的前提下，MSD是有效蒸馏EO的传统方法的潜在而强大的替代品。微波辅助萃取得到的花瓣残留物中的黄酮类化合物的微波辅助萃取效果优于微波加氢蒸馏后的结果，该结果可与MAE和热回流萃取相媲美。总的来说，在减少黄酮类化合物等非挥发性成分损失的前提下，MSD是有效蒸馏EO的传统方法的潜在而强大的替代品。