Essential Oils by Areej - Bitter Orange Oil

What is an Essential Oil?

Essential oils are volatile fragrant compounds obtained from plants through the process of extraction. Plant materials from seeds, roots, flowers, leaves, stems, bark, and resin can be used to extract the essential oil of the plant. Extraction can be done with fresh or dried plant material.

Only Nature Can Produce Essential Oils

• Plants contain 0.01 – 10% essential oil content, but the average amount found in most plants is 1 – 2%.
• The number of plants that actually give up their essential oil through extraction is relatively low.
• The amount of essential oil that can be collected from the plant through extraction varies, and, as a result, directly impacts the price.
• Lower yield and availability of the plant drives the price of the essential oil upwards.

To be Most Effective, Essential Oils Must be 100% Pure and Natural.

What Does This Mean?

• The oil does not contain any synthetic component, adulterant, or “nature identical” ingredients.
• The oil is not cut with a less expensive oil or diluent to bring down the cost and quality.
• The oil has not been reconstructed in a laboratory.

Steam Distillation

The most widely used method of obtaining essential oils from plants.
Typical yield is 1-2% by weight of the essential oils on distillation, but some oils are substantially less (for example, rose oil yield can be as low as 0.015%, and this drives the cost of the essential oil).

Process:

1. Plant material is placed into the vessel (container).
2. The vessel is closed.
3. A combination of steam and essential oil vapors go out of the vessel.
4. The steam is cooled and condensed.
5. The oil separates from the water due to the differing densities.
6. The essential oil is collected.
7. The water is recycled for the next distillation, or it is collected for use as floral water since it has smaller amounts of essential oil trapped within it.