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NATURAL ESSENTIAL OILS.
Essential oils are also known as Ethereal or Volatile oils.
They are odouriferous bodies of an oily nature derived from
Vegetable sources. In
India following
essential oils are produced. Essential oils are produced in various
internal and external glands of certain flowers, leaves, barks, wood
and roots. Chemically these oils are mixtures, usually very complex,
of terpenses, sesqui terpenes, their oxygenated derivatives, and
other aromatic compounds. Many contain 20 to 30 constituents
covering the entire range of organic materials.
“Aromatic” does not have the usual chemical meaning in the essential
oil business. An aromatic chemical in this case, is any compound
that has specific, useful odour. As old as the industry itself is
the question of whether the plant gets any specific benefit from its
essential oils.
PROCESSES FOR EXTRACTION OF ESSENTIAL OIL.
Almost all essential oils
from various sources are extracted by distillation method. There are
three types of distillation methods namely :-
1-- Water distillation.
2-- Water & Steam
distillation.
3-- Direct steam distillation.
Steam of hydro distillation
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