Essential Oils Extraction and making

Manufactures of essential oils - for aromatherapy and for the perfume trade - have several methods of making Essential Oils. The first and most economical is also the most ancient: by distillation. In ancient Egypt cedarwood was put in a clay pot covered with a cloth over a fire. The steam from the wood was absorbed into the cloth, which war repeatedly wrung out, producing essence of cedarwood. Today's method of making essential oil may be more streamlined, but the principle is still the same.

There are many ways in which essential oils are extracted. Expression is the second method to make essential Oils, used particularly with citrus rind, which is pressed and squeezed.

Essential Oil Extraction

Extraction is the third method of making essential oils and this can be divided into two. In enfleurage, sheets of glass are coated in odour less fat, into which petals are pressed. The fat gradually absorbs the scent. This is costly and time consuming and explains why some essential oils in aromatherapy, particularly that of the tuberose, are worth more than their weight in gold. It takes 10 tonnes of rose blossom to produce a single kilo of oil. The second method of essential oil extraction is solvent extraction using a hydrocarbon solvent such as petroleum spirit which is then boiled off. This is used to extract the oils of gums and resins and for flowers such as jasmine.

Aromatherapy and Essential Oils Information

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Essential Oils Uses and Benefits. How do Essential Oils work?

How Essential Oils are Produced?

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