|
|
Essential Oils Absolutes
Essential oils - Absolutes
Absolutes are solvent extracted products. They produced by a multi-step process which involves first extracting the flower (or other biomass) with a non-polar solvent such as hexane. After the hexane is evaporated a waxy product is obtained called the CONCRETE.
The concrete is then extracted using a polar solvent such as ethanol. The polarity of ethanol will allow extraction of the volatile aromatics from the concrete while leaving behind the non-polar plant waxes which don't dissolve well in ethanol.
Finally, the ethanol is evaporated to leave behind the absolute which will typically have 1-5% ethanol remaining in it and sometimes a trace of hexane, depending on the method used. |
|
|