Description
Hydro distillation is the gentler process for obtaining essential oils.
In this method, Agarwood powder are fully submerged in water, producing a ‘soup’, and the still is brought to boil. The resultant steam of which contains the aromatic plant molecules being captured and condensed. The oil will normally float on top of the ‘hydrosol’ (the distilled water component) and may be separated off. When the condensed material cooled down, the oil and hydrosol is separated and the decanted oil to be used as essential oil.
This method protects the oil so extracted to a certain degree, since the surrounding water acts as a barrier to prevent it from overheating. Hydro distillation can be performed at a reduced pressure (under vacuum) to reduce the temperature to less than 100°C, which is useful in protecting the plant material as well as essential oil. In spite that the hydro-distillation is, the most common method to extract and isolate the essential oils because for perfumery, the high temperatures can destroy the most delicate fragrance molecules, but it is a time consuming process and needs a large amounts of plant material.
