Abstract: Steam distillation extraction was used to simultaneously extract the volatile oil and shikimic acid in star anise. In terms of the yields of volatile oil and shikimic acid, the process conditions material granularity, solid-to-liquid ratio, temperature and extraction time were optimized using one-factor-at-a-time combined with orthogonal array design method to be 80 mesh, 1:15 (g/mL), 150 ℃ and 4 h, respectively. Under the optimal conditions, the volatile yield was 6.69% and the shikimic acid 2.05%.

Key words: star anise, volatile oil, shikimic acid, steam distillation extraction