Description

Water vapour permeates compacted plant products and carries the aromatic substances with it. The vapours then pass through a transfer pipe to the cooler where they condense to form a hydrate. The essential substances are separated at the surface where they can be collected manually or with a separator.

Filling of the boiler is done after the steam dome is removed, the plant products are held in stainless steel sieves. The equipment is made of copper or stainless steel with a thickness of 1.5 mm and meets the necessary quality criteria for foodstuffs.

Description of distillation:
Steam distillation of herbs is a very simple process. The herbs are placed on a strainer or basket above the water level in the distillation pot. When the water starts to evaporate from the cauldron, the steam permeates through the layer of herbs, taking "everything good" with it. The herbal steam condenses in a cooler, through which cold water circulates, cooling the steam so that it liquefies. At the end of the outlet from the cooler, two fractions are collected - essential oil and hydrolate. The essential oil floats on the surface of the hydrolate.

Different herbs "give" different amounts of essential oil. Lavender has a very good yield, from which you can get approx. 5-10 ml of essential oil when distilling 18 kg of herbs. Conifers have a similar yield. Other herbs such as mint, sage, honeysuckle or yarrow have a much lower yield of essential oil, approx. 1-2 ml per 18 kg of herbs. However, some herbs are stingy and do not give essential oil at all in this volume. Such are, for example, St. John's wort or linden. But we also distill such plants for the valuable hydrolate, which is a concentrate of the plant's healing abilities, preserved by the distillation process itself.