Commercial Methods of Making Essential Oils
When you buy essential oils, it is important that you find out how the ones you are purchasing were made. This could have a bearing on their therapeutic values. If you are knowledgeable about essential oils, a part of the information you should have is methods of making them.
Most essential oils are made through some form of distillation. Stills are used for steam distillation. Large amounts of plant material are used to make very small amounts of essential oils. The plant material is put into a chamber of the still. Then, steam is generated in a separate part of the still and is pressurized and put into the plant chamber. The steam has to be hot enough to bring out the essential oils, but not too hot. If it is, the plant material can be burned beyond any practical use.
Droplets of the essential oils released from the plant matter, along with the steam, go next into the condensation chamber of the still. When the steam cools, it turns into water. The essential oils are skimmed off the top. Another way manufacturers make essential oils is through cold pressing. This is done most when fruit peels are the basis of the essential oils. The peels are put through a device with spikes that penetrate the peel.
Then the essential oils are released from the juice of the whole fruit. This is done by means of a centrifuge. The whole process is also called scarification. The final product is essential oils of fruits.
Some essential oils are made through solvent extraction. For example, alcohol may be applied to the plant matter. Oils are released into the alcohol. When the alcohol evaporates, the essential oils are left.
However, sometimes other, less innocuous substances are used as the solvent. The solvent may not completely dissolve and this may corrupt the purity of the essential oils. Some plants won’t give up their essential oils without a solvent, but alcohol should always be used in aromatherapy essential oils.
Enfleurage also uses alcohol at the end of the method. First, though, petals of flowers with very little oils are placed on trays of some sort of fat. After the fat absorbs their oils, they are replaced by more petals. The alcohol is used in the end to separate the fat from the essential oils. Carbon dioxide extraction is fast becoming one of the preferred methods of making essential oils in a commercial setting. This method produces essential oils of high quality and purity. It also makes it possible to get essential oils from plants that were hard to extract from before.
Carbon dioxide extraction involves putting carbon dioxide under extremely high pressure in a stainless steel tank with the botanicals. The CO2 turns into a liquid and extracts the essential oils. Then it turns back into gas and leaves no residue.
This method of extraction leads to purer essential oils and higher yields. Other methods are less expensive but still effective. To determine the quality of the product you are buying, it is necessary to know how it was made.
