Kuningan Regency - Local Economy

Local Economy

Small scale enterprise in the regency includes the production of patchouli oil, an essential oil produced from Patchouli. But the cost and quality of patchouli oil produced in the area still needs to be improved. The selling price of patchouli in the region fluctuates markedly. This reflects several factors including market access to end users and the role of national brokers in the marketing chain. Standards of processing and refining of raw materials are not of high standards. Distillation is done at the local level and quality is still low (not meeting ISO levels). Amongst other things, this is because farmers who are producing local patchouli oil do not pay attention to factors such as the treatment of raw materials, the proportion of patchouli stems used with leaves, distillation methods, types of material used, reliance on solar stills, and inappropriate cooling and circulation techniques in production.

Quality improvement efforts that need to be adopted include improving the quality of the Fe (iron) content of patchouli oil because excessive levels make the oil too dark. Purification can reduce levels of iron from as high as 340.2 ppm down to 104.5 ppm. Further, densities that too small or too large reduce the low percentage of essential oil which can recovered.

Identification of the main components of local atchouli oil indicates a value of patchouli alcohol (PA) of about 27-29%. Improved treatment of material to be distilled can raise levels of PA to about 30-32%.