Essential Oil Extraction Demo Video
This 6 minute essential oil extraction demo video is an example of how the valuable and powerful natural oils in hydroponics or organic herbs can be collected at home or on the farm easily and effectively.
The plant material in the video is Scotch Spearmint that has been grown to harvest from stock plants in a climate controlled growth chamber with H.I.D. (High Intentsity Discharge) crop lighting.
Using a Direct Steam Distillation Process ensures that the biological active compounds in the oils are not subjected to Thermo-Degradation because the biomass in the flask cannot get warmer that 100 Degrees C. because the system operates under atmospheric pressure.
Different plant types and quality of plant material at at harvest will yield different volumes of essential oils for the same mass or weight of plant material used in the direct steam distillation process. Handling and other processes that follow harvesting the plant material in the cultivation cycle may also effect the final volume of essential oil that is yielded from controlled batch to controlled batch following the same extraction process. For example, some plant types will yield the bulk of their essential oil content in the first 10 to 30 minutes after steam begins flowing through the bioflask and cooling via the condenser coils for collection.
Some plant types may take several hours to yield the bulk of their water soluble essential oil contents. With others, running the process for an additional hour after oil begins to collect may yield no significant gains at all. On average, most conventional grown cops will yield from one to one tenth of a percent their weight in essential oil content. Scotch Spearmint is a variety that may be dried prior to processing tho develop and mature the resins, while other plant varieties may yield more resins and essential oils when the material is harvested and added as fresh.
Mobile direst steam distillation units for essential oils extracts may be set-up, right in the field at harvest time.
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