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 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 [1]. There are different methods of distillation, depending on the desired product; some of these processes are described below.
