Essential Oils for Aromatherapy – Learn How They Create Them
(By Joe Cinova)
What Are Essential Oils?
Essential oils are products manufactured by one or more several methods. They are created to produce highly concentrated extracts. The process however, that uses the contents of an entire plant may only produce single drop of this precious essential oil.
There are mainly nine categories that describe essential oils from which the materials are used to produce the product. They include citrus, floral, fruit, grasses and hays, herbs, menthols, mosses, resins and roots, spices, woods and barks.
The Process…
There are seven typical processes for extracting these oils. They are listed here for review.
- The most common form of extraction is a technique known as Steam Distillation. The items selected to have the oils extracted from them are placed in a steam “chamber” onto trays. As the steam impregnates the materials, it is filled with the substances contained in the plants. These substances will then pass thru a “condenser” that cools and concentrates the product. Once accumulated, the oils are separated from any waters left and the essential oils are formed. These oils are somewhat expensive because it may take hundreds of pounds of plants just to produce one ounce or even drops of these oils.
- Cold Pressing is another procedure used to extract oils from plants. This process is used on materials more likely to have larger quantities of oils present in the item such as fruits. Basically its similar to squeezing juice in the morning. The process is more refined to remove the oils from the pulp and peel.. Once squeezed, the oils will float to the surface allowing it to be removed by spinning it out in a centrifuge.
- If a plant or flower has such small quantities of oils in them or can be easily damaged in the extraction process then the manufacturer will use a process called “Enfleurage”. This is a delicate process used to extract the essential oils. The manufacturer places the petals or plants on trays as is done in distillation processes. But instead of using steam, they cover the plants in oils having no odor or taste. Normally they might use an animal fat or a vegetable oil for this purpose. The oils soak up and mix with the oils in the plants. The flowers are replaced, depending on how much oil they normally have, on a daily or weekly basis. Once the overall layer of oil contains enough of the targeted essential oils it is mixed with alcohol which separates the fatty oils from the product. Once completed, the rest of the alcohol is left to evaporate concentrating the final product. Enfleurage is a very costly and time consuming process. Oils created using this process are generally higher in price.
- Plants that are not as delicate can have their oils removed by using Carbon Extraction. Similar to placing the plants in a steam chamber for distillation, this process uses the same technique. However, instead of using steam, carbon dioxide is pumped into the tank causing the pressure to increase. As it does, the Carbon Dioxide will turn to a liquid and becomes like a solvent to remove the oils. The tank is cooled causing the Carbon Dioxide to turn to a gas again. Now though it contains the oils from the products which is processed to remove the essential oils. Carbon extraction is considered the top method for getting essential oils from plants. It doesn’t destroy the plants, has a much higher yield and produces the most concentrated form of the oils. They have been proven to have a higher potency and greater benefits to the end user.
- A cheap but not as safe method for removing oils is Solvent Extraction. Typically used on delicate items it does remove the oils into a form called “concrete”. No not the cement kind, its just a term. This concrete which contains the oils have to be dissolved in alcohol to remove the oils. The solvent residue that may be left in the essential oils are of concern. They can cause certain side effects and you should use them when selecting oils to put on the skin.
- Turbo Extraction is used when dealing with tough materials that don’t yield there oils easily, like bark. After soaking, steam is used to heat and render the oils from the materials. Refining the extracted materials will yield the essential oils.
- Finally, Hydrodiffusion is a process that injects steam in at the top of the chamber rather than in a “batch” type process like a pot you heat from the bottom.
Essential oils in a plant are like blood in humans. They protect the plant from diseases and help it get oxygen and food. Without these oils the plant are susceptible to many bacteria and would die. They tend to have the same affect on humans where a single drop can have extremely significant results. Using them to combat Holiday Stress is especially gratifying.
Being highly complex in nature, these Essential oils are a structure of many natural chemicals. Depending on the chemistry of each oil, there are many therapeutic uses each of them may have. Also, because of how each is processed the therapeutic responses of each oil will differ. Heat or physical degradation may limit how much of the healing compounds actually remain in the oils thru the process.
How People use Essential Oils
Basically over the centuries people have historically used essential oils in three different ways. They methods were further developed by the French, German and the English over the years.
Using oils for massages was developed by The English. As we know the cost of these oils is high so they took the oils and diluted them with vegetable oil. Sometimes they were warmed to achieve maximum relaxation and stress reduction
The French actually decided to drink these oils. They would swallow the food grade essential oils to achieve the maximum therapeutic benefits.
Aromatherapy, or inhalation of the essential oils was preferred by the Germans. They found they could achieve better therapeutic results by using this method. Since you absorb the compounds directly into the body thru the sense of smell there are dramatic effects on the brain. By doing so, the signals generated by the brain due to the effects of these oils can be sent to all parts of the body in a very short period of time.
Thanks for reading! See you again soon.
© Cinova LLC 2009
About the Author
Joe is an on-line author and internet affiliate marketer. As an individual that’s been involved with sports for years including martial arts (2nd Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do), lacrosse, baseball, football, coaching and being a referee health and wellness are an important part of his life.
He has also spent years raising cats, dogs and birds. As an engineer he spends a great deal of time working on his house, designing and fixing things and developing his new business platforms.
With his experience he has written articles to share the information and experiences developed over the years.
Experiment #1: Making an essential oil
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