PHA-2206:

PHARMACOGNOSY

DR DAPHINE KOMUGISHA
STEAM DISTILLATION
PROCESS
 Steam Distillation Process
• Essential oils (EOs) are products extracted from different parts of
plants, such as leaves, stems, roots, and barks.
• Chemically, essential oils are homogeneous mixtures composed of a
range of fractions from the most volatile to the heaviest terpenoids,
which are natural compounds that are usually produced as secondary
metabolites and act as defence phytochemicals for plants.
• Terpenoids have a pronounced aroma, often pleasing to the human
sense of smell and, with rare exceptions, a density lower than water,
with a characteristic colour for each species that also varies in
intensity, and, therefore, its presence is important in plant species
 Steam Distillation Process cont’d
• Due to these and other characteristics, as well as associated
application possibilities, the EO market has been growing intensely.

• The odorous, flavouring, and pharmaceutical properties of EOs play

important roles in different industry sectors, such as supplying raw
materials for cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, aromatherapy, food
flavourings, preservation, and homecare businesses
 Mechanism of Distillation
Steam distillation of plant material involves the following main
physicochemical processes:
• Hydrodiffusion
• Hydrolysis
• Decomposition by heat
Plant parts that can be used to produce
essential oils
Direct Stem Distillation
Instrumentation for direct stem distillation
 Procedure
• Steam is produced in the boiling by heating distilled water
• This steam travels upward into the biomass flask where essential oils
and water-soluble plant compounds are removed into the vapour
stream
• The vapour stream travels through the still head, condenses in the
water-cooled condenser, and collects in the receiver, where the
essential oil layer phase separates.
 Procedure cont’d
• Steam distillation of biomass generally yields two products: a
relatively high purity essential oil and an aqueous condensate called a
hydrosol.
• The receiver is specially designed to retain both heavier-than-water
oils and lighter-than water oils, while allowing excess water,
containing the water-soluble compounds, to be drained out and
collected separately
 Procedure cont’d
• The oil consists of hydrophobic, often aromatic compounds that are
produced in very small concentrations as secondary metabolites in
the plants.
• The hydrosol also contains secondary metabolites but these
compounds are more hydrophilic.
 Advantages of Direct Steam Distillation
• Amount of steam can be readily controlled.
• No thermal decomposition of oil constituents.
• Most widely accepted process for large-scale oil production, superior
to the other two processes.
 Disadvantages of Direct Steam distillation
• Much higher capital expenditure needed to establish this activity than
for the other two processes.
Water Distillation
Instrumentation for Water Distillation
 Procedure
• The plant material is completely immersed in water in a still pot
• which is boiled by applying heat by direct fire
• The plant material in the still is agitated as the water boils (otherwise
agglomerations of dense material will settle on the bottom and
become thermally degraded)
• The vapour stream travels through the still head, condenses in the
water-cooled condenser, and collects in the receiver, where the
essential oil layer phase separates
 Disadvantages of Water Distillation
• Oil components like esters are sensitive to hydrolysis while others like acyclic
monoterpene hydrocarbons and aldehydes are susceptible to polymerization (since
the pH of water is often reduced during distillation, hydrolytic reactions are facilitated).
• Oxygenated components such as phenols have a tendency to dissolve in the still water,
so their complete removal by distillation is not possible.
• As water distillation tends to be a small operation (operated by one or two persons), it
takes a long time to accumulate much oil, so good quality oil is often mixed with bad
quality oil.
• The distillation process is treated as an art by local distillers, who rarely try to optimize
both oil yield or quality.
• Water distillation is a slower process than either water and steam distillation or direct
steam distillation.
Thanks for listening