Essential Oils Extraction

By Author: Felton Freeman
Total Articles: 62
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For centuries, humans are using plants for many purposes. Essential oils are the liquids extracted from the plants and they are used for several purposes ranging from perfumes to medicine. These oils can be extracted from the plants using different methods. Nowadays, four methods are commonly known for the extraction of essential oils. These methods are distillation, solvent extraction, expression and CO2 extraction.
Expression is the simplest and the most environment friendly of these methods. In this method, liquids are extracted by simply pressing the specific plant part such as petal, fruit, leave or root. Expressed essential oils are generally the most volatile ones.
Another method of extraction which is quite different from expression is solvent extraction. This method is usually used for flower petals. In this method the plant material is dipped or washed in a solvent dissolving its volatile extracts. Then the solvent bath is heated leaving behind a crystallized substance. The oils created from these crystallized substances are known as absolutes.
CO2 extraction is a relatively modern method. This method ...
... is not very common because oils produced are thicker, less fragrant and do not blend well.
The most common method used for thousands of years for extraction of essential oils is distillation. The quality and properties of the oil extracted by this method depends on a number of factors including plant materials used, steam density, temperature and shape of distillation apparatus used. In this method, steam is pushed through plant material making it release its precious oils. The vaporized oils and steam are condensed and separated through the process. Temperature should be kept as low as possible so that oil does not lose its properties and aroma. Increasing temperature to a great extent can make oil therapeutically completely ineffective. The quality of extracted essential oil can be tested by scientific methods such as gas chromatography.

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