I am looking to extract some essential oils from plants that I grow and possibly some terpenes eventually. Am using a 1L steam distillation setup. Today was my first go at it and it was a failure. I need a vacuum pump or a proper 1L heating mantle as I could not get enough heat for steam.
Can i please get some recommendations on smaller sized Vacuum units. I really can’t put alot into it. New or Used, whatever works! Thanks for reading.
Search results for 'Steam distillation' - Future4200 should be a decent start
(Thanks for reading…)
And you should also target @beakers work
You need a steam generator not vacuum
Certainly up for more reading. Thanks for the links. Sadly I just found beakers thread an hour ago (R.I.P. even though I don’t know you sir) and saved some of his separation videos. Would love to read more from him, and thanks for showing me how to search a topic + a user.
Not familiar but will certainly look into it. Thank you.
it is possible to do steam distillation under vacuum, but I doubt you are up for that. The process depends on what you are trying to collect. Many essential oils are unstable to oxygen, thermally or both. Llang Lang is a scent that is essentially impossible to obtain with a simple steam dist unit.
Sounds like you are seeking a home model if you are only talking about boiling a gallon. I suggest a modified pressure-cooker. I built my home demo unit from two pressure cookers and some stainless valves. I mounted one pot over the other. The bottom pot is the steam generator and the top holds the plant material. After that it is just a T fitting as a still head and a simple condenser. a length of metal tubing will work for small systems… I can share a simple design suing plumbing fittings and garden hose if you want a water-cooled condenser.
If you want to get a good-quality result, the first level of extra care would be to use a shielding gas. You need to deoxygenate the water and keep a slight inert gas flow throughout the process. Bubbling an inert gas through the water, or better, us deep well water and collect directly into a purged jug. Anything you can do to reduce the oxidation will improve your result.
If you really want to do vacuum stem distillation, you could boil the water at room temp., just by placing the still pot in a heat sink and chilling the condenser and collection flask. Of course, this requires real glassware, and good vacuum. Aspirator vacuum is sufficient to boil water at RT, but all seals of whatever rig would have to be a lot better than a pressure cooker. The lab setup would be a large still flask with a column packed with plant material on top. then a still-head and condenser, followed by a vacuum adapter and collection flask.
Wow those sounds like some of the cool setups i saw on youtube (farms and folks extractings oils on bigger scale). Feel free to send over the designs, although I feel I have invested into this glassware and would probably aim to get this going. I saw some DIY steam stuff and so far i don’t have any of the stuff needed on-hand.
My setup is exactly what you mentioned at the bottom of your post (“lab setup”). But sadly the single coil burner + pot of boiling water i used just couldn’t get the water in the boiling flask to create steam, just a bunch of condensation.
I did some research and getting a vac + cold trap, oil, etc was gonna be around $600. It’s not that I don’t want it, I just can’t put that much into this right now.
Since it’s ultimately the steam that I am lacking, would it be a good idea to just get a proper heating mantle that can boil the water in my flask? It sure would be alot nicer on my wallet.
Take a cheap electric stove
And a pan that the flask fit s in nicely
Add oil to the pan and place flask inside
Boil your evaporations water au bain Marie style Deu to the higher bp of the oil there will be a higher heat transfer to the water making it make vapor faster
Was wondering why I saw oil used in some youtube videos. Will be trying this. Thank you Roguelab. As well as everyone who has sent me responses. You doods are awesome.
Would you mind giving me an example on how that is done?
I was overthinking the shit out of this one. Had been looking for a lab related steam generator of sorts. Didn’t realize it could be the same type for steaming wood. I have a small unit on hand that was being used to clean my reptile cages. definitely going to give that shot.
Thanks for giving such a bad ass suggestion even though I couldn’t comprehend it fully at the time. After lots of reading, steam injection does seem to be De Wae