Aromatherapy » Essential Oil Extraction

Methods of Essential Oil Extraction

Author — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 08:51:15 +0000

There are many methods of essential oil extraction and the methods used depend on the type of plant as well as the type of oil that is produced. Some essential oil extraction methods are better than others and produce very pure essential oils. The purer the oil the more difficult the process is and the more expensive the resulting oil is.

Understanding the extraction process can help you determine what essential oils to buy and which ones to avoid. Some essential oil extraction methods can not only produce poor oils but also cause allergies even if the oils produced are cheaper.

Steam Distillation

This is a common method of essential oil extraction but it is currently not the best method as there are new methods that are being developed. However pure essential oils produced with this method are of a good quality. The plant, whether the leaves or roots, are placed into a still and pressurized steam goes through the plant.

The oil inside the plant reacts with the steam and bursts and evaporates. The evaporated essential oil passes through the top of the still with the steam into a water-cooled pipe and is condensed back into liquid form. This method is costly as although millions of a particular plant it results in a comparatively small amount of essential oil.

Maceration

Maceration does not really produce essential oils as it involves the use of carrier oils. Oil that results from maceration can be used directly on the skin unlike essential oils. This method involves soaking the plant in carrier oil and then heating it up. The oil is then strained and it is ready for use. Typically this method is used to produce massage oils that have been infused with a specific plant or herb.

Cold Pressing

Cold pressing is the essential oil extraction method used primarily for citrus oils and anything else that has a rind. Only the rinds of the fruit, such as lemon, orange, grapefruit and bergamot, are used in this method. The rinds are either cut up finely or ground and then pressed. Essential oil does not immediately result, instead there is a mix of essential oil and liquid that will eventually separate.

The process is longer than steam distillation. Citrus essential oils and oils produced this way are notoriously volatile and prone to oxidization. So only buy as much as you will use in the next six months or you will have bottles of useless oil.

Essential Oil Extraction at Home – Difficult but Doable

Jennifer — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 02:48:39 +0000

Pure essential oils can be quite expensive and the oils you typically see in stores are those that have already by mixed with carrier oil or some other medium for use. There are many aromatherapy and natural cure aficionados that wish they could do essential oil extraction at home. It is possible to accomplish with the right tools, equipment and most of all, patience.

Essential oils are present in all plants and herbs and are what give them fragrance or even taste. Because pure essential oils are expensive, many people seek various methods of essential oil extraction at home. To understand what could be accomplished at home, you should be aware of the different types of extraction first.

Different Types of Extraction

Distillation is by far the most popular means of essential oil extraction at home and especially in manufacturing arenas. There are several types of distillation and all involve water and its steam counterpart. Because everyone at home has access to water, distillation is the most viable method for essential oil extraction at home.

Maceration is another extraction process of essential oils but is not really viable for amateur home hobbyists. It involves hot oil in which the flowers or herbs are soaked in to release the fragrant essence. From there, the hot oil is purified and the essential oil is extracted from that medium.

Enfleurage and pressing are two similar extraction methods for essential oils and involves crushing or squeezing flowers, citrus rinds and herbs until the oils are released. While pressing is sometimes a practiced essential oil extraction at home, it is not often done because the expended effort is too much. With enfleurage, the smeared essential oil left over from the pulverized flowers and herbs are mixed with an animal fat until the fat soaks up the oils and is then processed.

Essential Oil Extraction at Home Using Distillation

The easiest way to accomplish essential oil extraction at home is to purchase a home distillation kit which could be used with a few simple household items like the use of your stovetop. With these kits, you would get several professional lab grade flasks with one for distillation and one for receiving the essential oil, a distillation head and condenser, cooling hoses and more.

Of course, you can assemble your own equipment from what you have at home, but a kit will have all the items you need. The use of steam distillation often provides the most efficient process for the home hobbyist. You would place the herbs, flowers or plant in the main flask dry. The, steam is injected into the flask so that the essential oil can sweat out of the plant or flower material.

This steam method provides the best results and little oil is wasted when trying to collect it and separate it from the plant material. When you use steam for essential oil extraction at home, you have to be careful and not burn yourself. There are other distillation methods which involve water and steam however they are not as efficient as straight steam for gathering essential oil.

Essential Oil Extraction Processes: Expression

Jennifer — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 15:12:39 +0000

It’s true that essential oils are an essential part of aromatherapy. But contrary to what some people think, the term ‘essential’ doesn’t mean essential as in ‘being a necessary part of’. Instead, essential oils are the oils extracted from the ‘essence’ of a plant – those parts that contain the plant’s aroma molecules.

Using different methods of extraction guarantees that the highest concentrations of oils can be extracted. Essential oils are gathered from many different types of plants and many different parts of those plants. Flowers, fruits, herbs, stems, roots, leaves, buds, blossoms, seeds, nuts and even tree bark produce some of the most aromatic and therapeutic essential oils. Essential oil extraction methods fall under three main categories: expression, solvent extraction and distillation. The following is an overview of these extraction processes and methods.

Expression

The expression form of essential oil extraction does not involve the use of a heat source. This is the method commonly used to extract oils from the rinds of citrus. In earlier times, rinds were squeezed by hand and a sponge was used to collect the essential oils. The fruit would be removed and then the rinds along with the pith would be soaked in water to make them easier to work with. They’d then be turned upside-down. Turning them upside-down caused the cells containing the oils to break apart. Once broken, the oils would drip out and soak into a nearby sponge. When the sponge became saturated, the oils were squeezed into a container so they could be decanted.

Ecuelle a Picuer

Another expression method involved sticking pins into the skins of fruit for the purpose of damaging the cells that contain the essential oils. The apparatus used had a built-in container for collecting the oils and the other parts of the fruit that ended up in the collection area. The final steps involved separating the essential oils and decanting them. This is called the ecuelle a picuer method.

Machine Abrasion

Those were quite laborious processes, and thankfully, technological advances led to the invention of machines to do this type of tedious work. Nowadays, oils from rinds are extracted using centrifugal force. This rapid process is called Machine Abrasion.

Cold Pressed

This form of expression extraction is also used to extract essential oils from nuts and seeds and from the rinds of citrus. Mechanical pressure is used to force the oils out. The oils extracted contain water, but this water will, in time, evaporate, leaving just the essential oils. The downside of using this extraction method is that the cold pressed oils spoil more quickly than those extracted using other methods. That’s why, to eliminate waste, it’s important to purchase these essential oils in small quantities.