Many valuable natural materials have traditionally been extracted with organic solvents. However, some of the organic
solvents are believed to be toxic, and the extraction conditions are often harsh. A simple method using ethanol (a food-grade solvent) instead of methanol was applied for the extraction of phenolic compounds from various citrus peels. The effects of the following parameters: the conditions of the peel sam ples, effect of repeated extraction, different types of organic
solvents, the concentration of the solvent and temperature of extraction were examined.