roguerose12
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Essential oil extraction from Citrus and other fruits
I stumbled upon something strange while messing around with some citrus peels (orange, lemon, lime). I separated the main fruit body from the peel
and put them through a cheese grater (there was absolutely no pulp/juice in gratings). I was planning on using the gratings later for a project so I
froze them in a ziplock. When I thawed them, I put the bags in hot water and allowed to soak. When I pulled them out, there was a substantial amount
of liquid in the bottom - I thought they had leaked a lot of water into the bad (there was probably like 2-3oz of liquid per bag.
I strained the gratings and noticed that the liquid was VERY strong smelling and it was strongly coloured. I decided to press the gratings to get as
much liquid out as possible. This was done by putting them into a mesh strainer and pressing with a spoon - so this wasn't like an industrial oil
extraction press. I figured out that the bags hadn't leaked as I put them in water again and nothing leaked in so this all came from the peels.
To the bottom are pics of what I ended up with. I started with 1 lb of lemons, 4 large oranges and 3-4 Large limes. You will notice that there is
some oil towards the top of the liquid - the lemons had the most.
Lemon - Oranges - Limes
Considering that this stuff came only from the peels, what is in this liquid? I am guessing that there is still a good bit of oil left in the peels
and probably some more water. I'm also kind of confused as to why this liquid came out of the peels only because of freezing.
I use essential oils as a scent for soaps and other things and am wondering if I can use this stuff as the water in the recipes. I'm in the process
of filtering the liquid to a finer particle size as the above is only run through a mesh coffee filter (which is still pretty small for fruit pulp).
Any info on why the liquid came out and why? Is this why cold weather is so detrimental to citrus crops? Also, are there any other fruits (besides
other citrus) that may do something like this with freezing (I'm looking to get something scented like essential oils).
[Edited on 30-8-2015 by roguerose12]
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unionised
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Freezing breaks down the cell walls of plants because the ice crystals that form pierce the cell membranes.
That explains why you got lots more liquid out when you thawed them.
You could steam distil those liquids and get some oil, but the yields are not going to be very high.
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Corrosive Joeseph
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As Unionised said, you could steam distill.
l do wonder though if that would be even enough to separate your oily and fatty compounds from the water.
Them 'soups' look VERY well aquainted!!
l guess another possible option would be to try and gently reduce what you have by boiling more water off, but you'd most likely lose some of your
'goodies'.
The only other thing l can think of is to read up on this and try and determine what you most possibly could have there and attempt to extract it with
the appropriate solvent (l'm sure there is one).
Have fun 
CJ
Being well adjusted to a sick society is no measure of one's mental health
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Nicodem
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Thread Moved
30-8-2015 at 10:33 |
Little_Ghost_again
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There is an old thread on here somewhere with pics of a pine cone extraction I did, the orange red colour has come from the seed coating, I cant for
the life of me remember the name but aga might spot this and he knows it because its the same as tomato seed coating that inhibits growth. A small
amount of this stuff colours alot of solution!
Looks like you also have packing wax in there as well, were thees shop brought?
many times they coat with a wax spray for packing and transport
RATS, ignore the seed bit, I was utterly away somewhere else and have had a huge brain malfunction, I re read the question etc and admit my answer is
crap except the wax part, the orange colour is obviously from the orange pigment in the cells from the rind, I dont have a good excuse I just didnt
have my brain in place!!
[Edited on 8-10-2015 by Little_Ghost_again]
Dont ask me, I only know enough to be dangerous
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