SAN IGNACIO DE LOYOLA UNIVERSITY

INGENIERA AGROINDUSTRIAL Y AGRONEGOCIOS

LABORATORY REPORT N4
ESSENTIAL OILS

COURSE:
Agrifood Tech II

PROFESSOR:
VARGAS DELGADO, LUIS FERNANDO

MEMBERS:
Lpez Quionez, Bruno
Vinces Guillen, Rolando
Urbina Salinas, Andrea

2014
Lima Per

I.

INTRODUCTION

Essential oils contain highly volatile substances that are isolated by a physical
method or process from plants of a single botanical species. The oils normally
bear the name of the plant species from which they are derived. Essential oils
are so termed as they are believed to represent the very essence of odor and
flavor. Essential oil plants and culinary herbs include a broad range of plant
species that are used for their aromatic value as flavorings in foods and
beverages and as fragrances in pharmaceutical and industrial products.
Essential oils derive from aromatic plants of many genera distributed worldwide.

Research has confirmed centuries of practical use of Essential Oils, and we

now know that the 'fragrant pharmacy' contains compounds with an extremely
broad range of biochemical effects. There are about three hundred essential
oils in general use today by professional practitioners. Continual bombardment
of viral, bacterial, parasitic and fungal contamination occurs in our body.
Essential oils are a great benefit to help protect our bodies and homes from this
onslaught of pathogens. Immune system needs support and these essential oils
can give the required endorsement.

Steam distillation is used in the extraction of Essential Oil from the plant
material. It is a special type of distillation or a separation process for
temperature sensitive materials like oils, resins, hydrocarbons, etc. which are
insoluble in water and may decompose at their boiling point. The fundamental
nature of steam distillation is that it enables a compound or mixture of
compounds to be distilled at a temperature substantially below that of the
boiling point(s) of the individual constituent(s). Essential Oil contains
components with boiling points up to 200C or higher temperatures. In the
presence of steam or boiling water, however, these substances are volatilized
at a temperature close to 100C, at atmospheric pressure.

II.

OBJECTIVES

To familiarize to the students with some processes of essential oils

extraction.

III.

MATERIALS

Citrus fruits

Scratching tool

Strainer

Bowls

Distillation system

Boiler

IV.

METHODS:

V.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Raw Material: Oranges

Orange peel = 50g

Procedure

Blend the 50g orange peel with 150 ml of water

60 ml of the blended sample goes under distillation for 50 minutes

Parameters

Distillation Temperature = 95C

Results

2.5 ml of esencial oil

1 ml of hidrosol

1) Peeling

4) Distillation

2) Weighting

3) Blending

5) Decantation

An essential oil is a concentrated, hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma

compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile, ethereal oils
or simply as the "oil of" the plant from which they were extracted, such as oil of
clove. Oil is "essential" in the sense that it carries a distinctive scent, or
essence, of the plant.

An Essential Oil contains more than 200 chemical components, but some are
many times more complex. Essential oils consist of chemical compounds which
have hydrogen, carbon and oxygen as their building blocks. They can be
essentially classified into two groups:

Volatile fraction: Essential oil constituting of 9095% of the oil in weight,

containing the monoterpene and sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, as well as their
oxygenated derivatives along with aliphatic aldehydes, alcohols, and esters.

Nonvolatile

residue:

This

comprises

110%

of

the

oil,

containing

hydrocarbons, fatty acids, sterols, carotenoids, waxes, and flavonoids.

However the properties of these components can change. For example, the
components from the oils extracted from plants can change according to how,
when and where these plants are grown and harvested.

Steam Distillation
Steam distillation is a special type of distillation or a separation process for
temperature sensitive materials like oils, resins, hydrocarbons, etc. which are
insoluble in water and may decompose at their boiling point. The fundamental
nature of steam distillation is that it enables a compound or mixture of
compounds to be distilled at a temperature substantially below that of the
boiling point(s) of the individual constituent(s). Essential Fresh, or sometimes
dried, botanical material is placed in the plant chamber of the still and the steam
is allows to pass through the herb material under pressure which softens the
cells and allows the Essential Oil to escape in vapor form. The temperature of
the steam must be high enough to vaporize the oil present, yet not so high that
it destroys the plants or burns the Essential Oils. Besides the steam tiny

droplets of Essential Oil evaporates and travel through a tube into the still's
condensation chamber. Here Essential Oil vapors condense with the steam.
The essential oil forms a film on the surface of the water. To separate the
Essential Oil from the water, the film is then decanted or skimmed off the top.

A number of factors determine the final quality of a steam distilled essential oil.
Apart from the plant material, most important are time, temperature and
pressure, and the quality of the distillation equipment. Essential oils are very
complex products. Each is made up of many, sometimes hundreds, of distinct
molecules which come together to form the oil's aroma and therapeutic
properties. Some of these molecules are fairly delicate structures which can be
altered or destroyed by adverse environmental conditions. So, much like a fine
meal is more flavorful when made with patience, most oils benefit from a long,
slow 'cooking' process.

It is possible that longer distillation times may give more complete oil. It is also
possible however, that longer distillation time may lead to the accumulation of
more artifacts than normal. This may have a curious effect of appearing to
improving the odor, as sometimes when materials that have a larger number of
components are sniffed, the perception is often of slightly increased
sophistication, added fullness and character, and possibly, and extra
pleasantness.

The advantage of Steam Distillation is that it is a relatively cheap process to

operate at a basic level, and the properties of oils produced by this method are
not altered. As steam reduces the boiling point of a particular component of the
oil, it never decomposes in this method. This method apart from being
economical, it is also relatively faster than other methods.

Citrus Oils
Citrus oils are extracted from the epicarp of species of Citrus, such as lemon,
lime, bergamot, grapefruit, bitter orange as well as sweet orange, mandarine,
clementine, and tangerine.

The monocyclic monoterpene (+)- and (-)-limonene enantiomers have been

shown to be present in orange peel (Citrus aurantium L. sp. aurantium)

Mixture of immiscible liquids

In an immiscible mixture, the partial pressure of a component is equal to the

vapor pressure of the pure component. For an immiscible mixture Dalton's law
becomes:

Where PoA and PoB are the vapor pressures of pure A and pure B. When a
mixture of immiscible liquids is heated, it will boil at a temperature which is less
than the boiling point of either of the components. Both components will be
present in the vapor. For a specific example consider a mixture of limonene and
water.
At a little over 97C the vapor pressure of water is 695 mmHg and the vapor
pressure of limonene is 65 mmHg. Since the sum of the vapor pressures equals
760 mmHg, the mixture boils. The mixture will continue to boil at this
temperature as long as any limonene is present in the mixture. When all of the
limonene is gone, the boiling point rises to 100C, the boiling point of pure
water. On condensing the vapor, the limonene and water, being immiscible in
one another, separate into two phases. This technique is referred to as steam
distillation and can be an effective method for isolating organic materials from
complex mixtures. The earliest isolations of organic substances from natural
materials were done using steam distillation. One distinct advantage of steam
distillation is the lower temperature required to isolate the organic substance. In
the example with limonene, limonene is volatilized at 97C whereas its normal
boiling point is 175C.

The universal gas law, PV = nRT, also holds for partial pressures:

Where PA and PB are the partial pressures of A and B in the vapor and nA and
nB are the number of moles of A and B in the vapor. Since the volume V,
temperature T, and gas constant R are the same for both A and B and the
partial pressures of A and B are equal to the vapor pressures of pure A and
pure B, the ratio of the vapor pressures of A and B is equal to the ratio of the
number of moles of A and B in the vapor:

Since the numbers of moles of each component are equal to the weight of the
component divided by its molecular weight, the ratio becomes:

Where mA and mB are the weights of A and B and MWA and MWB are the
molecular weights of A and B. Applying this to the limonene example, the
amount of water required to distill 0.5 g of d-limonene can be calculated.

In actual practice, considerably more water is usually distilled to ensure that all
of the organic material has distilled over. One way of determining when all of
the organic material has distilled is to check the condensate. If it is clear and is
only one phase, the steam distillation is complete.

VI.

CONCLUSIONS

Essential Oil contains components with boiling points up to 200C or higher

temperatures. In the presence of steam or boiling water, however, these
substances are volatilized at a temperature close to 100C, at atmospheric
pressure

The advantage of Steam Distillation is that it is a relatively cheap process to

operate at a basic level, and the properties of oils produced by this method are
not altered

VII.

REFERENCES

Handbook of essential oils : science, technology, and applications / K. Hsn

Can Baser, Gerhard Buchbauer

Boiling points and distillation

http://www.chem.wisc.edu/courses/342/Fall2004/Distillation.pdf

EXTRACTION OF ESSENTIAL OIL USING STEAM DISTILLATION

Department of Chemical Engineering National Institute of Technology Rourkela