The "How" of Essential Oils

Having just explored the use and healing properties of essential oils, Lavaculture wants to know what exactly essential oils are in order to understand the different grades of quality before making any purchases. The following article is mainly based on the information presented by two very good sites: edenbotanicals.com and aromaweb.com. Although there are many processes for making essential oils, the processes described in this article focus on what is provided by Eden Botanicals.

Each extraction method has benefits over others which are important to understand according to what the entrepreneur will be creating. The first thing to understand is that there is a difference between "Fragrance Oils" and "Essential Oils."

Fragrance Oils are usually synthetically made scents that mimic real natural scents while Essential Oils are made from leaves, stems, roots, flowers, or fruits, without artificial ingredients. Here is an overview of the different types of extractions and processes:

 Absolute Oils:
Absolute oils are concentrated aromatic oils extracted from plants. They are usually used more for perfumery rather than aromatherapy due to their intensity and the traces of chemical solvents from the extraction process. The process for extracting absolute oils involves the use of chemicals and alcohol which remain in the formula. The difference between an absolute and an essential oil, is that in the making of an absolute oil, the entire plant is used rather than only the essential oil portion of the plant.

Distilled and Expressed Essential Oils:
This process of distilling essential oils involves the extraction of concentrated oils from the plant's glands through steam distillation, water distillation, or a combination of both. There is also such a thing as dry vacuum distillation or expression such as for citrus peels.

CO2 Extracted Oils:

This form of extraction comes about with the pressure of carbon dioxide at a certain temperature. The result is either "select" or a "total" extract. A select extract means only the essential oil part of the plant is used, and a total extract contains more parts of the plant, and resembling the plant as a whole. This method is primarily used by the food and body care herbal industries as well as aromatherapy. The most important benefit is that this form of extraction does not involve chemical solvents.

Organically Extracted Oils:
This method provides a more "lively" essence. The "bio-available" essence from the plant is extracted only with natural solvents such as oils and alcohol and without added heat. As Eden Botanicals mentions, this form of technology: "is similar to the ancient method of extracting an enfleurage from precious flower petals."   

10% dilutions:
10% dilutions are pure essential absolutes diluted in fractionated coconut oil. The resulting formula contains 10% of the essential oil and 90% of the coconut oil. It is interesting to note that fractionated coconut oil is used because of its long shelf life and clear odorless nature.

This was a brief introduction to the different processes and methods of essential oil extractions. Please read the next post to learn about what to look for before purchasing, what questions to ask, what and how to preserve their healing properties. If you have any further comments or useful information, please make comments to this post!

Thank you!