Ethos x

The microwave-assisted system (ETHOS^TM X, Milestone Srl, Milan, Italy) was used as the alternative hydrodistillation. The sample was subjected to the 5 L flask. The microwave power was set at 1700 watts for 4 h. The obtained essential oil was collected, and the contaminant water was removed by the anhydrous salt and stored in the refrigerator until use.
The obtained Etlingera elatior leaf essential oil was calculated for their percentage of yield using the below equation: $$\%\mathit{yield}=\left(Amount of essential oil \left(g\right)\times 100\right)÷Amount of plant sample \left(g\right)$$

MAHD was carried out using ETHOS X and ETHOS XL extractors (Milestone srl, Bergamo, Italy, see Figure 1). Extractions were performed in triplicate and expressed as average ± SD. For the sake of clarity, all the runs reported are numbered progressively across the manuscript.

Masses of 400 g of hemp inflorescences were rehydrated using 1.2 L of ultrapure water (ratio 1:3 sample:water). After 30 min of mixing and soaking, the entire biomass was transferred in a 5 L ETHOS-X glass reactor and closed using a glass cover with an intermediate silicone o-ring and a PTFE) sealing kit. Afterwards, the reactor was placed into the Milestone “Ethos X” instrument (Milestone, Sorisole, Italy), equipped with two magnetrons capable of developing a maximum power of 1800 W and an infrared sensor for monitoring the internal heating. A Clevenger-type apparatus was connected outside the microwave instrument and allowed the condensation of the distillated oil through a circulating water system maintained at a temperature of 8 °C through a chiller. The cooling system allowed not only the EO isolation, but also a continuous reflux of the evaporated water to the reactor, restoring the water content to the hemp material. The distillation program was optimized as follows: 10 min at 1200 W and 40 min at 700 W. Finally, the distilled cannabis EO was collected from the distillation module by using a Pasteur pipette and transferred in glass autosampler vial. In order to favor the water–oil separation, the distillate was frozen.

Between May and August 2021, the samples of the brown alga C. spongiosus (Hudson) C. Agardh, 1817 were collected. The sampling took place in the Adriatic Sea, off the coast of the island of Čiovo (43.493373° N, 16.272519° E). Each sample was collected at a depth of 20 to 120 cm from the same lagoon. The sea temperature was measured during each sampling with a YSI Pro2030 probe (Yellow Springs, OH, USA) and increased from 20.1 °C in May to 28.1 °C in August. Alga species was determined according to its morphological attributes by marine botanist. For the determination of VOCs, the samples were dried in the shade at room temperature for 10 days, while samples for the determination of non-volatile compounds were freeze-dried (FreeZone 2.5, Labconco, Kansas City, MO, USA) prior the extraction. Algal samples were extracted in 50% ethanol using MAE in the advanced microwave extraction system (ETHOS X, Milestone Srl, Sorisole, Italy) and UAE based on the prior research [9 (link)]. The samples were pulverised and mixed with 50% ethanol at a 1:10 (w/v) algae to solvent ratio and extracted for: (1) 15 min at 200 W and 60 °C for MAE, and (2) 60 min at 40 kHz frequency and 60 °C in an ultrasonic bath for UAE.

MAE was performed in a commercial microwave-assisted extraction system ETHOS X (Milestone, Sorisole, Italy) equipped with two industrial magnetrons (950 W each) for microwave irradiation and an extraction rotor carrying 15 extraction units. The extraction time and temperature were controlled by the respective software panel. Portions of 0.25 g of powdered SWR materials were mixed with 20 mL of aqueous ethanol solutions in lid-covered TFM vessels (100 mL max. volume) that were placed individually in the respective rotor places. The temperature inside the vessels was monitored via an infrared easyTEMP sensor placed on the bottom of the microwave cavity. Following extraction, using the conditions specified in the experimental design (Table 4), the samples were cooled for 10 min. After completion of the extraction, the extracts were recovered and treated as reported in Section 3.2.

Solvent-free microwave-assisted extraction for three Curcuma samples was performed using a Milestone ETHOS X (Sorisole, Italy) advanced microwave extraction device (Figure 9A). An infrared sensor to track the temperature and two magnetrons combined to deliver a maximum power of 1800 W (2 × 950 W) are included in this 2.45 GHz multimode microwave reactor. At atmospheric pressure, the extraction was initiated using an integrated glass vessel /reactor with a capacity of 2 L covered by a glass lid (Figure 9B,C). Dried rhizomes were soaked with water for 30 min within the integrated glass vessel and processed through the system. Power was set at 450 W for the first 30 min, then dropped to 400 W for the rest period. The parameters such as time, pressure, power and temperature were regulated by the instrument’s programme/software. The Fragrances setup was used to configure the system, which consists of a glass Clevenger apparatus placed above the oven, continuously condensing the volatile substances and enabling water to re-enter the reactor. The volatile oils were collected from the apparatus (Figure 9D) and treated with sodium sulphate (anhydrous). The yield was determined as the weight of dried rhizomes divided by the volume of essential oil (%v/w). Further, the samples were preserved in a refrigerator at 4 °C for subsequent analysis.