purification of essential oils by distillation

PURIFICATION AND RECTIFICATION OF ESSENTIAL OILS

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The following is part of the partial transcription of some practical operational meetings to explain the distillation of essential oils in the amateur sector and the possibility for everyone to produce an excellent essential oil themselves using the "steam current" extraction technique

Decantation

Purification begins with Decantation. After a sufficiently long decantation time, a certain layer of water forms on the bottom of the container, which must be removed.

First Purification

The temperature is then gradually lowered (even to -15 -20 °C) to obtain the solidification of waxes and resins that can be removed by filtration with a vacuum flask.

Further Purification

The oil thus obtained, to be used, must be further purified by eliminating the useless, irritating and organoleptically unpleasant components. In it, in fact, there are substances with characteristics that are easily oxidized by resinifying the Essential Oil that, in this condition, acquires them.

Deterpenation

We then proceed with a fractional distillation called Deterpenation which, repeated two (Birettification) or three times (Triactification) eliminates the low boiling components (Head) consisting of monoterpenes, the high boiling components (tail) consisting of sesquiterpenes and the products of resinification. In this way, more stable and concentrated products are obtained. The deterpenized essences have a higher antiseptic power than the original one.

Rectification

For the rectification, equipment known as fractionated distillers are used to protect the essential oils and, equipped with a thermometer at the point of exit of the vapours, to control the progress of distillation and thus be able to change the collection vessel at the appropriate time. Knowing the boiling points of the fractions to be kept and those to be eliminated, it is possible, by controlling the temperature of the thermometer, to replace the collection vessel when the temperature indicates that the individual fractions are being distilled. Fractional distillation can be carried out at reduced pressure so as to limit the decomposition caused by the high temperature.

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Organic certification - Reg.(EC) 834/2007 - controlled operator no. EW87 - Control authorised by MIPAAF IT-BIO-009

PURIFICATION AND RECTIFICATION OF ESSENTIAL OILS

The following is part of the partial transcription of some practical operational meetings to explain the distillation of essential oils in the amateur sector and the possibility for everyone to produce an excellent essential oil themselves using the "steam current" extraction technique