Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Separating water soluble volatile organic compounds from aqueous solution

Kleinkiwi - 5-5-2017 at 02:46

In the Steam Distillation of plant material for essential oil extraction, the end raw product is an aqueous solution of the more hydrophilic compounds (the hydrosol/hydrolate) and a layer of essential oils (usually) floating on top.

I'm interested in a way to extract the water soluble organic molecules from the hydrosol, as they are useful for a variety of things, mostly aromatherapy/perfumery related. I have read that up to 30% of the fragrant molecules are lost to the hydrosol, which can be used in products due to all that water.

I'm aware of a company that sells products derived from extracting the molecules from the hydrosol and I even have a few of them.

Thanks in advance for any assistance (please forgive/correct any mistakes in Chem terminology.. my high school Chem is quite rusty)