Page 5 - ESSENTIAL OIL THERAPY MANUAL

What Is An Essential Oil
The National Association of Holistic Aromatherapy (NAHA) (2019) outlines that essential oils are distilled or expressed aromatic extracts from a wide range of botanical plants. Each essential oil consists of different chemical constituents which give them their distinct aromas as well as therapeutic properties such as being anti- inflammatory and anti-bacterial (NAHA, 2019). Essential oils are volatile molecules which evaporate quickly at room temperature (NAHA, 2019; Tisserand, 2020).
There are several different methods of extraction that are utilized to isolate the essential oil from the source plant, steam distillation is the most common (Tisserand, 2020). With this method steam is pushed through plant material to encourage the scent sacs to rupture (Tisserand, 2020). When the sacs rupture the essential oil is released in a vapour that combines with the steam (Tisserand, 2020). The mixture is cooled resulting in condensation, then a water and essential oil mixture (Tisserand, 2020). The essential oil separates and generally settles on top of the water where it is then isolated (Tisserand, 2020).
FIG. 1.0 IMAGE OF STEAM DISTILLATION
Image source: New Directions Aromatics. (2020). Retrieved from https://www.newdirectionsaromatics.com/blog/articles/how-essential-oils-are-made.html
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