ABSTRACT

Distillation is a process of heating a substance until the most volatile constituents change into the vapor phase, and then cooling the vapors to recover the constituents in liquid form by condensation. The main purpose of distillation is to separate a mixture into individual components by taking advantage of their different level of volatilities. Distillation is one of the main methods of extracting essential oils from plants. The percentage of each constituent in

CONTENTS

7.1 Introduction ................................................................................................ 199 7.1.1 Steam Distillation ..........................................................................200 7.1.2 Simple Distillation and Fractional Distillation .......................... 201 7.1.3 Vacuum Fractional Distillation .................................................... 201

7.1.3.1 Signicant Reduction of Thermal Hazard .................. 202 7.1.3.2 Greater Fractionation Efciency ................................... 202 7.1.3.3 Enhanced Purity of Distillate ........................................ 202

7.2 Industrial Scale Purication of Orange Peel Oil ................................... 203 7.2.1 Citrus Industry ............................................................................... 203 7.2.2 Sweet Orange Oil ........................................................................... 203

7.2.2.1 Purication of Orange Peel Oil ..................................... 203 7.2.2.2 Method of Deterpenation-Vacuum

Fractional Distillation ..................................................... 204 7.2.2.3 Folded Oils ....................................................................... 204 7.2.2.4 Uses and Applications .................................................... 205 7.2.2.5 Experimental Results ...................................................... 206

7.3 Conclusions ................................................................................................. 213 References ............................................................................................................. 215

the vapor phase usually depends on its vapor pressure at a certain temperature. The principle of vacuum distillation may be applied to substances such as oils that would be damaged by overheating by the conventional method (Ahmad, 2004). There are different methods of distillation, depending on the desired product; some of these processes are described below.