Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Distillation of essential oils

fourtyteww - 22-1-2011 at 02:27

the pros, i bow down to you and ask for your help in this matter :D

is it possible to distill the pure evergreen oil from foliage and root bark?

if so , how?

would a soxhlet work?

what chemicals should be used , if any,,,,

might have to look into this

ScienceSquirrel - 22-1-2011 at 05:27

A lot of essential oils are extracted by steam distillation.
You will need a big can to use as a steam boiler and a big flask that you can fit up with a steam inlet. Think big as yields are low and you will need to use a lot of material.
A lot of herbs will yield useful and interesting oils but you will want to grow your own or finds a friendly grower that will let you have big bunches cheap or better for free.

fourtyteww - 22-1-2011 at 06:25

thanks a lot found a site that really helped also ,

I am wondering if there is a way to do this on a large scale,
lets say in a shipping barrel or whatever that is made of either pp5 or some kinda metal

I remember finding an old thread a while back where someone had a "ghetto" still hooked up in their backyard, it was made with a steel crate or whatever(trashbin) whoknows but it had copper coils and all that ....

possible?

fourtyteww - 22-1-2011 at 06:27

one question ,

does anyone have plans for a larger still?
I couldnt imagine having to refill and redistill with only a few handfuls of stuff, i may heve to find an alternative to the distillation aparatus made of glass

Sedit - 22-1-2011 at 10:37

I have plans on constructing a larger one sometime or another. Right now mine is only perhaps somewhere in the range of 5-10 liters and for most materials this is not sufficient.

My plans involve keeping this tank which is a modified old deep fryer and using that for the steam generator feeding it into a tank directly above the deep fryer in order to reuse the waste heat and keep the whole process running.

ziqquratu - 22-1-2011 at 15:55

I remember seeing a site some time ago, where a guy turned an old 44 gal drum into a giant steam distillation apparatus. If memory serves, he went ahead and threw the best part of a Christmas tree in there and distilled away... Unfortunately, I can't find my bookmark, but a little time spent on Google will probably dig it up - or, at the least, it wouldn't be hard to DIY from scratch anyway!

From memory, it was one of the drums with a resealable lid (you know, with the springy clip-on band things around the lid), he put some mesh in the bottom to support the material being distilled, had a tap for adding water, and a pipe (copper?) coming out the top, which was then bent down and coiled. He ran cooling water down the coiled part the serve as a condenser, and had the outlet of the pipe run into a part-filled watering can, which served as a kind-of reverse separating funnel (the opening for the spout was low on the inside and the top of the spout was below the top of the can. He made sure to fill with water to above the level of the spout opening, then when the condensate was collected, it filled the can until it reached the spout, where water came out, leaving the oil in the can without it overflowing if left unattended). He heated the whole thing with a gas burner, if I recall.

ScienceSquirrel - 22-1-2011 at 19:13

You have to be careful with metal drums that you cannot see through and similar containers.
Blockages resulting in over pressures and explosions are a danger.
Stills can explode and kill their operators.
Even on a professional, industrial scale accidents occur with stills, a still stitched together out of plumbing spares requires special care!

blogfast25 - 23-1-2011 at 06:43

Quote: Originally posted by ScienceSquirrel  
You have to be careful with metal drums that you cannot see through and similar containers.
Blockages resulting in over pressures and explosions are a danger.
Stills can explode and kill their operators.
Even on a professional, industrial scale accidents occur with stills, a still stitched together out of plumbing spares requires special care!


True, but that's nothing a relatively simple safety valve a la pressure cookers can't overcome though...