Steam distillation

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Steam distillation apparatus, showing aniline steam distillation

Steam distillation is a separation process that consists in distilling water together with

other volatile and non-volatile components. The steam from the boiling water carries the
vapor of the volatiles to a condenser; both are cooled and return to the liquid or solid
state, while the non-volatile residues remain behind in the boiling container.
If the volatiles are liquids not miscible with water, they will spontaneously form a
distinct phase after condensation, allowing them to be separated by decantation or with
a separatory funnel. In that case, a Clevenger apparatus may be used to return the
condensed water to the boiling flask, while the distillation is in progress. Alternatively,
the condensed mixture can be processed with fractional distillation or some other
separation technique.
Steam distillation can be used when the boiling point of the substance to be extracted is
higher than that of water, and the starting material cannot be heated to that temperature
because of decomposition or other unwanted reactions. It may also be useful when the
amount of the desired substance is small compared to that of the non-volatile residues.
It is often used to separate volatile essential oils from plant material.[1] for example, to
extract limonene (boiling point 176 °C) from orange peels.
Steam distillation once was a popular laboratory method for purification of organic
compounds, but it has been replaced in many such uses by vacuum
distillation and supercritical fluid extraction. It is however much simpler and economical
than those alternatives, and remains important in certain industrial sectors. [2]
In the simplest form, water distillation or hydrodistillation, the water is mixed with the
starting material in the boiling container. In direct steam distillation, the starting
material is suspended above the water in the boiling flask, supported by a
metal mesh or perforated screen. In dry steam distillation, the steam from a boiler is
forced to flow through the starting material in a separate container. The latter variant
allows the steam to be heated above the boiling point of water (thus
becoming superheated steam), for more efficient extraction.[3]
The invention of steam distillation is attributed to the Persian physician Avicenna.[4][5][6][7]
[better  source  needed]

Contents
  1Principle
 2Applications
 3Equipment
 4See also
 5References

Principle[edit]
Every substance has some vapor pressure even below its boiling point, so in theory it
could be distilled at any temperature by collecting and condensing its vapors. However,
ordinary distillation below the boiling point is not practical because a layer of vapor-rich
air would form over the liquid, and evaporation would stop as soon as the partial
pressure of the vapor in that layer reached the vapor pressure. The vapor would then
flow to the condenser only by diffusion, which is an extremely slow process.
Simple distillation is generally done by boiling the starting material, because, once its
vapor pressure exceeds atmospheric pressure, that still vapor-rich layer of air will be
disrupted, and there will be a significant and steady flow of vapor from the boiling flask
to the condenser.
In steam distillation, that positive flow is provided by steam from boiling water, rather
than by the boiling of the substances of interest. The steam carries with it the vapors of
the latter.
The substance of interest does not need to be miscible water or soluble in it. It suffices
that it has significant vapor pressure at the steam's temperature.
If the water forms an azeotrope with the substances of interest, the boiling point of the
mixture may be lower than the boiling point of water. For example, bromobenzene boils
at 156 °C (at normal atmospheric pressure), but a mixture with water boils at 95 °C.
[8]
 However, the formation of an azeotrope is not necessary for steam distillation to work.

Applications[edit]

A boiling water distiller. Boiling tank on top and holding tank on the bottom.

Steam distillation is often employed in the isolation of essential oils, for use in perfumes,
for example. In this method, steam is passed through the plant material containing the
desired oils. Eucalyptus oil, camphor oil and orange oil are obtained by this method on
an industrial scale.[1]
Steam distillation is also sometimes used in chemical laboratories as one of many
substance separation methods.
Steam distillation also is an important means of separating fatty acids from mixtures and
for treating crude products such as tall oils to extract and separate fatty acids and other
commercially valuable organic compounds.[9]

Equipment[edit]

Hydrodistillation using the Steam distillation apparatus, Clevenger-type apparatus. (A) Power regulator; (B)
Heating mantle with round bottom flask containing water and aromatic leaves; (C) Clevenger-type apparatus
that returns the hydrosol to the still and maintains the essential oil phase, but only for essential oils that are less
dense than water and therefore float; (D) The condenser. [10]

On a lab scale, steam distillations are carried out using steam generated outside the
system and piped through macerated biomass or steam generated in-situ using
a Clevenger-type apparatus.[11]

See also[edit]
 Azeotropic distillation
 Batch distillation
 Distillation
 Extractive distillation
 Fractional distillation
 Heteroazeotrope
 Herbal distillates
 Hydrodistillation
 Laboratory equipment
 Steam engine
  Steam stripping
 Supercritical fluid extraction
 Theoretical plate

References[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:    Fahlbusch, Karl-Georg; Hammerschmidt, Franz-
a b

Josef; Panten, Johannes; Pickenhagen, Wilhelm;

Schatkowski, Dietmar; Bauer, Kurt; Garbe, Dorothea;
Surburg, Horst (2003). "Flavors and Fragrances".  Ullmann's
Encyclopedia of Industrial
Chemistry.  doi:10.1002/14356007.a11_141. ISBN 3-527-
30673-0.
2. ^ Zeki Berk (2018): Food Process Engineering and
Technology, 3rd edition. 742 pages. ISBN 978-0-12-812018-
7 doi:10.1016/C2016-0-03186-8
3. ^ Manuel G. Cerpa, Rafael B. Mato, María José Cocero,
Roberta Ceriani, Antonio J. A. Meirelle, Juliana M. Prado,
Patrícia F. Leal, Thais M. Takeuchi, and M. Angela A.
Meireles (2008): "Steam distillation applied to the food
industry". Chapter 2 of Extracting Bioactive Compounds for
Food Products: Theory and Applications, pages 9–
75. ISBN 9781420062397
4. ^ Fritz, Sandy; Fritz, Luke (2020-02-13). Mosby's
Fundamentals of Therapeutic Massage - E-Book. Elsevier
Health Sciences.  ISBN  978-0-323-66184-3.
5. ^ Rähse, Wilfried (2014-04-23). Industrial Product Design of
Solids and Liquids: A Practical Guide. John Wiley &
Sons.  ISBN  978-3-527-66761-1.
6. ^ "Distillation".  www.chemeurope.com. Retrieved  2021-12-
15.
7. ^ Oliveira, Mozaniel Santana de; Silva, Sebastião; Costa,
Wanessa Almeida Da (2020-09-09). Essential Oils: Bioactive
Compounds, New Perspectives and Applications. BoD –
Books on Demand.  ISBN  978-1-83962-697-5.
8. ^ Martin's Physical Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical sciences,
fifth edition, ISBN 0-7817-6426-2, Lippincott williams & wilkins
9. ^ M.M. Chakrabarty (9 November 2003). Chemistry and
Technology of Oils & Fats. Allied Publishers.
pp.  12–. ISBN 978-81-7764-495-1.
10. ^ Sadgrove & Jones, A contemporary introduction to essential
oils: Chemistry, bioactivity and prospects for Australian
agriculture, Agriculture 5(1), 2015, DOI:
10.3390/agriculture5010048
11. ^ Walton & Brown, Chemicals From Plants, Imperial College
Press, 1999.

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