Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Melissa essential oil solvent extraction

Random - 15-8-2013 at 15:32



Since I have a very large amount of melissa (lemon balm), how much solvent would I actually need to extract a larger amount of plant material. I am thinking in terms of ethanol.

For example, if I was to use 1L of ethanol, and chop 100g of plant material then mix with ethanol and filter over something, how long could I repeat this until the liter of ethanol gets concentrated or would that be even inefficient in terms of mechanical losses?

Unfortunately I have no means to steam distill the material.

[Edited on 15-8-2013 by Random]

[Edited on 15-8-2013 by Random]

[Edited on 15-8-2013 by Random]

Mailinmypocket - 15-8-2013 at 16:00

Unfortunately steam distillation would be the best route to getting a relatively pure oil. Steeping the plant material in ethanol will make a tincture which when evaporated will be gunky with other plant materials. If that is the only method at your disposal I would try just covering some finely cut plant material, letting it soak a few days (or reflux a few hours) and then filter through something like cheese cloth to allow you to squeeze out every drop. Filtering again after that would be a good idea.

I guess you would keep going until the alcohol is no longer as colored? It's hard to say. Are you going to dry the plant material before?

[Edited on 16-8-2013 by Mailinmypocket]

Random - 17-8-2013 at 07:01

Your suggestion about cheese cloth is pretty good, though I think my method is not very smart. I read that dry melissa retains only a small amount of essential oil and if I was to use fresh one, there would be too much water and it would ruin the solubility of oil.

Mailinmypocket - 17-8-2013 at 07:28

You might be able to create a very crude distillation rig...

Take a large skillet with high walls... Or a pot.. And put the plant material in it with a few inches of water. Then place a beaker in the very middle with something in it to weigh it down, and put the lid of the pot on upside down so that handle creates a drip tip. Boil the mix and distillate containing the oil should drip into the beaker if all goes well. I would recommend ice packs or something on top of the lid to maximize condensation. Then once you have enough distillate you could proceed with a solvent extraction etc. should work okay-ish, but it will be hard to tell when the distillate stops being milky, which indicates no more oil is distilling out.

[Edited on 17-8-2013 by Mailinmypocket]

Random - 17-8-2013 at 07:55

Interesting idea, I'll try to do it when I'll have some more time and report results :)

sonogashira - 17-8-2013 at 08:35

Solvent extraction study of antioxidants from Balm (Melissa officinalis L.) leaves
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308814602...
Quote:

AbstractIn the paper, the extraction of antioxidants from Balm (Melissa officinalis L.) leaves with ethanol is presented. Effects of particle size, amount of solvent and temperature on the extraction rates and concentrations of antioxidants in the extracts were studied and kinetics was determined. Individual antioxidants (carnosic, ursolic and oleanolic acids) were identified by high performance liquid chromatography. Results showed that the intraparticle diffusion was the rate-governing step of the extraction process. The extractions all proceeded in three stages: an initial washing stage, a fast stage and a slower stage. Experimental extraction curves were analysed with a mathematical model derived from Fick's second law, and diffusion coefficients of the antioxidants within the particles under different operating conditions in ethanol were determined.


http://www.aseanbiodiversity.info/abstract/51001073.pdf

confused - 17-8-2013 at 10:04

if you have the appropriate glassware, maybe using a Soxhlet extractor would be better/improve your yield

heres a link to a DIY soxhlet extractor, seems interesting
(https://mycotopia.net/forums/botanicals/53045-diy-soxhlet-ex...)

Bot0nist - 18-8-2013 at 04:45

A proper steam distilatiom apperatus will likely be a simple thing to DIY, and is the go to method for most essintial oil extraction...

Random - 18-8-2013 at 14:48

DIY soxhlet extractor seems somewhat dangerous to heat as it's made from simple glass. Apparatus that Mailinmypocket describet seems somewhat more convenient.

violet sin - 18-8-2013 at 21:38

your after the essential oil right? in other circles oil is extracted with butane, but I'm not going to recommend that. though along those lines I read of guys doing everclear extractions using very short soak times. seems the process should transfer across just fine.

http://skunkpharmresearch.com/qwet-extraction/
this site is all about people that get oil from cannabis so be warned. if you don't want that on your brows history. but it basically says they do extractions with drinkable highproof alc in about 3 min. this is to minimize the pick up of other stuff like the chlorophyll. vegetable waxes and oils. but the quick in and out gets the lighter more mobile oils while others have a lag getting into solvent.

I came across this a while back while reading up on essential oils on google. I been tempted to try it on fresh tomato leaves and stem when we cut 'em down for the year. they don't smell near as strong when dried and I haven't finished my steam distillation yet. outside of 2" copper is easy to clean, the inside not so much. so I will try a quick soak later this fall