| Essential oil is any concentrated, hydrophobic liquid | | | | which flower essences such as Jasmine, Rose, which |
| containing volatile aroma compounds from plants. il | | | | are more delicate and difficult to obtain are |
| can be extracted from any part of the plant from | | | | extracted. Flowers or petals are crushed between |
| petals and leaves, roots, seeds and rinds. Essential oils | | | | wooden framed, glass trays smeared with a greasy |
| are generally extracted by distillation. Most essential | | | | animal fat until the fat is saturated with their |
| oils are extracted by steam. Other processes include | | | | perfume. Other method is cold pressing. This method |
| expression, or solvent extraction. They are used in | | | | is typically employed for citrus oils. What is done is |
| perfumes and cosmetics, for flavoring food and drink, | | | | simply the rind is pressed under the conditions of a |
| and for scenting incense and household cleaning | | | | high temperature, about 120 degrees Fahrenheit, and |
| products. There are many ways in which essential oils | | | | the oils are removed. Mechanical pressure is used to |
| are extracted. The vast majority of true essential oils | | | | force the oils out. The oils extracted contain water, |
| are produced by distillation. Distillation is a method of | | | | but this water will, in time, evaporate, leaving just the |
| separating chemical substances based on differences | | | | essential oils. The downside of using this extraction |
| in their volatilities in a boiling liquid mixture. | | | | method is that the cold pressed oils spoil more |
| Distillation usually forms part of a larger chemical | | | | quickly than those extracted using other methods. |
| process, and is thus referred to as a unit operation. | | | | Pressing is a simple method of squeezing out literally, |
| Steam distillation, the most common method of | | | | essential oils from the rinds and peel off ripe fruit |
| essential oil production, involves the flow of steam | | | | such as orange and lemon into a sponge. Solvent |
| into a chamber holding the raw plant material. The | | | | extraction is used in combination with distillation. A |
| steam causes small sacs containing essential oil to | | | | hydrocarbon solvent is put in with the plant material |
| burst. Steam distillation uses an outside source of | | | | and dissolves the essential oil. The resulting solution is |
| steam which pipes the steam into the distillation unit, | | | | then filtered and put through a distillation process |
| sometimes at high pressure. The steam passes | | | | that concentrates the oil to produce a resin, or |
| through the aromatic material, and exits into the | | | | resinoid. The remaining substance is a combination of |
| condenser. Another method is essential oil extraction | | | | wax and essential oil and is called “concrete. The |
| is Pomades. Pomades are produced using a process | | | | most modern method of extracting essential oils is |
| known as enfleurage, which is seldom done today. | | | | the CO2 and SCO2, or carbon dioxide and |
| Freshly cut flowers are laid upon a layer of fat. The | | | | supercritical carbon dioxide, method. This method |
| final step would be an alcohol extraction of the | | | | uses the ‘solvent’ carbon dioxide to carry |
| fragrance-saturated fat to produce the pure absolute | | | | the essential oils out of the plant. Another method |
| or perfume. | | | | for extracting essential oils is one that is reserved |
| Essential Oil Extraction - Enfleurage is the method by | | | | called absolutes. |