Distillation Methods

[Guest guest]

Hi y'all,

 

Just got back from five days in Magosa, Cyprus and owe some of you folks

some replies as I didn't wanna do anything while I was there besides

forwarding orders to my folks in Maryland. I gained a couple'a pounds

while being real lazy and eating too much good chow .. visited a bunch

of ancient Ottoman, Greek and Phoenician ruins, to include a relatively

new (for that area) church .. Saint Nicolas Cathedral .. built around

1200 AD. Too hot it was there. Folks can now see that I'm a Redneck

without hearing me tawk. ;-p

 

Anyhow .. I just made this post to another list and though I'd pass it

along as it might be of interest to some of the folks here too. On the

forms of distillation of essential oils.

 

The most common form is Steam Distillation. Imagine steaming a basket

of veggies over boiling water .. without the boiling water. Steam is

introduced into the bottom of the still, from some outside source, and

it travels upward through the suspended plant material. This is also

the least expensive means as it requires less water and smaller stills

can be used .. generally in the range of 500 to 1,000 kilogram stills.

 

A relatively new form of Steam Distillation is called Hydrodiffusion.

Same same as above except the steam is introduced into the top of the

still and flows downward through the plant material.

 

Another form that is rarely used now is Hydro-Steam Distillation. This

is where steam jackets are placed along the sides of a still that will

be used for Hydrodistillation.

 

Hydrodistillation is the oldest form .. still used by some villagers to

make what I like to call Village Cooked oils .. and it can be the least

efficient form unless high tech stills are used and in close proximity

to an abundant source of clean water. Its only used commercially when

none of the other methods will work due to the nature of the aromatic

materials or when the other methods are not convenient for one reason or

another. Its used for any aromatic material that will compact.

 

Hydrodistillation is a bit like washing clothes in your washing machine.

The aromatic plant material is submerged in the water .. not suspended

above it. For example, in Turkey, Rose Otto is hydrodistilled by

placing 500 kilograms of Rose Blossoms into 1,500 kilograms of water in

a 2,000 kilogram still. The Rose Blossoms submerged in the water are

heated and the steam rises in the normal manner .. into the condenser

where its cooled .. and returns to liquid form.

 

Why use Hydrodistillation for Rose Otto? Because if we suspend Rose

Blossoms in a hanging contraption as we do with Steam Distillation, when

the steam begins to pass through the blossoms, they will compact to a

very HARD mass that will not allow a good flow of steam.

 

There are some other plant materials distilled via Hydrodistillation at

times .. but again, its not usually efficient and its not a norm. In

Tunisia, they Hydrodistill Rosemary. They go forth into the wild and

harvest the Rosemary plants from here and yonder and bring them to the

nearest semi-portable still. That method requires a lot of water so

they also must haul that in. Is it efficient? Not that I can see. It

seems to me that hauling the Rosemary to a fixed still would be far more

efficient than hauling water to the mobile still .. and then hauling the

essential oil back to town.

 

Some folks like to think of the harvest and distillation of aromatic

plants as being a gentle and loving piece of work. Sorry to say that

from a commercial standpoint this is a romantic rumor put forth by some

sellers of EO. Those who might describe their oils as being " Expertly

crafted in an earth-friendly manner from aromatic plants harvested with

tender loving care by 16 year old blond virgins in flowing white robes

who thank the plants for their sacrifice while chanting Hari Krishna to

appease the Gods. "

 

In truth, in the Third World and Emerging Market Countries, from which

we obtain most of the wild-grown aromatic plants, they are harvested by

the pound by peasants who want no more than to make a little extra cash.

True it is that Rose Blossoms are harvested with TLC but the reason is

not altruistic .. its common sense economics. If they crush the Rose

Blossoms, they will begin to lost weight due to evaporation of the EO.

 

Harvest of cultivated crops is similar .. except in the more modern

countries, where they are normally harvested by machine. There are

always exceptions to the above .. sometimes even in modern countries we

must harvest by hand but its only done when there is no other choice.

Good it is too because EO prices would go out of sight if we increased

the labor required to harvest the aromatic materials.

 

As for mobile distillation units, there's a feller now experimenting

with them in the USA .. using a USG grant. There's another feller from

Canada doing some work with them in Costa Rica. But this is not a norm

nor is it likely to replace the convenience and efficiency of fixed

station distillation.

 

If you want to see some of these processes .. from the Rose Field to the

Still .. go to the following URLs.

 

http://www.av-at.com/distillation/rosadamascena1.html

 

In Part II of the above URL, you'll see a reference to Hydro-Steam

Distillation. At the time, it was " sorta " true .. I won't go into all

the details but to say that now ALL Turkish Rose Otto is Hydrodistilled

and I just haven't got around to changing the site yet. ;-p

 

If you wanna see other shots of the Rose fields and stills .. go to

 

http://www.av-at.com/stuff/rosedistillation.html

http://www.av-at.com/stuff/rosefields1.html

 

And for some more wild-grown aromatic plants .. go here:

 

http://www.av-at.com/stuff/aromaticplants.html

http://www.av-at.com/stuff/asst1.html

 

To see Hydrodistillation of Rosemary in Tunisia .. go here:

 

http://www.aromamedical.demon.co.uk/new/rosemaryoil.htm

 

The photos of the Tunisian operation are what I call Village Cooked

oils. Sometimes they call this Alembic distillation. But the ancient

method used to distill Rosemary in Tunisia is a far cry from the more

technically proficient method used to distill Rose Blossoms in Turkey.

One big difference is the ability to control/regulate the heat .. that's

difficult using the Tunisian method. Another is the loss of aromatic

gases that occurs with the Tunisian method but not with the the Turkish

Hydrodistillation. Both are environmentally friendly to a point as the

spent plant materials are later used. In Tunisia for fuel and in Turkey

for fertilizer on the farmer's fields. As for Martin's statement that,

" Any hydrodistilled rosemary oil will be far superior to steam distilled

oil. " I disagree. But we all have a right to personal opinions. ;-)

 

Y'all keep smiling, Butch http://www.AV-AT.com

 

Bulk/Wholesale/Retail GC Tested EO, Rose Otto, Hydrosols and other nice

things shipped to you from Friendsville, Maryland .. population 600.

[Guest guest]

I have a question regarding distillation methods. One company

(Imani Natural Products) say they use oils which come from a

French doctor and are " slow distilled " for medicinal use. Has

anyone (e.g. Butch) heard of this process? Also, just because

oils are organic or wild crafted, is this assurance that they are

not processed with solvents? Am generally wondering if there is

some kind of European standard of processing oils for

" medicinal " use and if there is such a thing as slow distilled.

 

Thanks, Michael