We will share information about the application of the steam distillation system and the volatile herbal production method in Herbal Chemistry. It is a common method used to obtain essential oil from the flowers, roots and leaves of plants. This method, which is the most common method in essential oil production in the world, is one of the less dangerous and economical production methods, and the quality is lower than the oils obtained with supercritical fluids, but the ideal quality is achieved by expert practices.
The parts of the plant whose essential oil is obtained are prepared. In this method, the plant does not need to be completely dry. Its application as wet is effective for oil yield. Distillation of dry herb is efficient for the quality of the oil. Plant leaves or flowering parts are extracted from foreign plants.To obtain essential oil with this method, you must have a steam distillation system.This mechanism should include units such as steam boiler, heating system, fractional distillation system.The steam distillation apparatus is filled up to the plant capacity. By determining the evaporation heat of the volatile components of the plant, water vapor is imposed on the plant in the system.Water vapor passes through the plant throughout the boiler and adds the dissolved volatile components in the plant.Later, the steam is separated from the boiler and condensed and becomes back water.Since the difference in condensation temperature is utilized and volatile components with a different condensation temperature condense before or after the water vapor, the essential oil is separated on one side and water on the other.This separation process can also be separated in some plants by fractional distillation. In some plant oils, it can be made directly by using the difference in condensation. When the decomposition process was completed, the essential oil of the plant and aromatic plant water were obtained.In this context, I want to include an issue that we should pay attention to. The aromatic plant water that comes out with the essential oils produced by steam distillation is not 100% plant sap. As it is named after, it is AROMATIC plant water. Aromatic plant waters contain 5% and less of plant extracts. Plant juice and aromatic plant water should not be mixed. Because there is already water supplied to the system. Since this water is condensed back through the plant as steam, it incorporates very little plant sap. The event we call real plant sap is equal to the moisture content of the plant that we measure with moisture analyzers. Plant juices are obtained by extraction methods. And the ratio is equal to the humidity of the plant.