Óleos essenciais aplicados à indústria de manufatura

Abstract

Essential oils are products of the secondary metabolism of aromatic plants and can be found in different parts of the same plant, such as flowers, leaves, stems, seeds and roots. They are widely used in the manufacture of cosmetics, perfumes, therapies and are gaining notoriety as antibacterial agents in the food industry, in the production of biofuels and in biolubricants. In order to recommend the use of the most suitable essential oil as an additive for metalworking fluids with biocidal function among the options Curcuma Indiana, Melaleuca alternifolia and Turmeric, the present work used the AHP approach for evaluation via criteria such as price of the final product, essential oil extraction yield and cost of cultivation and production. Once verified that the chemical composition of the extracted oil was according to the literature, the alternatives were pairwise compared. The consistency ratio of criteria and alternatives were validated. Melaleuca essential oil proved to be the best option given the priorities resulting from the judgment matrix and also in a first sensitivity analysis, in which all criteria were considered with equal relevance. In the second sensitivity analysis scenario, 50% of importance was attributed to the essential oil extraction yield criterion and 25% to the others, Curcuma Indiana essential oil was identified as the best option among the evaluated alternatives.