Extraction Of Essential Oils

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Posted by: jenny Tags: Posted date: July 25, 2011 | No comment

Essential oils are volatile oils which are used in aromatherapy and other medicinal purposes. These volatile oils can be extracted from different aromatic plants. Essential oils have been used since ancient times. They have wide variety of uses. They can be used in therapeutic, medicinal, and culinary purposes; this ensures that their popularity will go on increasing. Around 700 different kinds of aromatic plants contain essential oils and these oils are extracted through various different methods. The most common method of extracting them is through distillation. Though essential oils are expensive to buy, they are relatively cheap to distill at home. They can be distilled using the simple and relatively easier water and steam distillation process.

Obtain and build a still: One can purchase an apparatus specially designed for distilling essential oils. These apparatus cost around hundred dollars or more. If someone wants to make a still at home then the key components of a still are:

It has a heat source or the furnace, which is used to boil water. A fire built under the retort is the oldest method of distilling essential oils.
There is a holding tank or a retort which holds the water and just above the water on a grate or a false bottom.
A condenser which collects the steam and cools it down, usually by piping it through a tube which is immersed in the cold waater.
There is a separator which separates essential oils from water vapour. The separator or the essencies is the most important pieces of apparatus a distiller can have. It helps in separating essential oils from the distillate.

Raw material: The quantity of essential oils depends on the course of plants developments. So it is very important to harvest the plant at the right time. This depends on the type of plant, so it is very important to do some research and understand the correct time of harvesting the plant. It is also important to harvest the plant carefully as careless handling of plants can damage the plants and it can reduce the quality and quantity of the plants. We should always look for plants which are healthy and undamaged. The plants which are in whole form are considered to the best.

Dry the plant material: Drying the aromatic plants reduces the quantity of oils in each plants but it increases the yield per batch as we will be able to put more material into each batch. The plants should be dried slowly and should not be exposed to direct sunlight. Commercially grown plants can be dried in fields after cutting for a day or so. Lavender and peppermint are included in this category. The ideal drying method depends from plant to plant but the main thing is that we should not overheat the plant.