You can request a free quotation below. We will contact you as soon as possible.
Essential oil, incorrectly commonly called essential oil, is a mixture of volatile, aromatic molecules extracted from plant material that is characteristic of the smell of the plant from which they are extracted. Although such mixtures are called "oils", essential oils contain no fat. They are liquid at room temperature, but soon evaporate when heated and ignite easily.
Essential oils are extracted from different parts of a plant, for instance the blossom, fruit, seed, leaves, skin, bark or wood (from stem, branches or roots). Usually, a plant contains no more than 1% essential oil, but in the case of nutmeg and cloves it is more than 10% essential oil. Sometimes different parts of a plant contain different volatile oils.
Volatile oil is extracted in different ways. Most volatile oil is extracted by steam distillation. This involves passing steam through the plant parts to be processed. The volatile oil dissipates with the steam. After the steam has cooled to water, and the volatile oil has also liquefied again, the volatile oil can be separated from it by the difference in polarity between the oil and the water.
One method used with citrus fruits is cold pressing. The oily peel of the plant is squeezed out and the oil emerges.
From some types of wood, volatile oil is extracted by dry distillation. In this process, the solid is gently heated, during which the volatile oil evaporates. This vapour is then condensed.