HARVEST MANAGEMENT
Drying:- The grass is allowed to wilt for 24 hours before distillation as it reduces the moisture content by 30% and improves oil yield. The crop is chopped into small pieces before filling in the stills. 
Distillation:- Oil is obtained through steam distillation. The oil has a strong lemon like odour. The oil is yellowish in colour having 75-85% citral and small amount of other minor aroma compounds. The recovery of oil from the grass ranges from 0.5 – 0.8 per cent. It takes about 4 hours for complete recovery of the oil.

Purification of Oil:- The insoluble particles present in the oil are removed by simple filtration method after mixing it with anhydrous sodium sulphate and keeping it overnight or for 4-5 hours. In case the colour of the oil changes due to rusting then it should be cleaned by steam rectification process.