Solvent Extraction Method

Plant materials that produce little essential oil, are primarily resinous, or are delicate aromatics unable to survive the stress and pressure of steam distillation are best suited for this approach. In addition, this technique yields a finer aroma than any other distillation technique.

As contrast to mechanical pressing methods, Solvent Extraction is a process that is most frequently used to extract oil from materials that contain oil by treating them with a low boiler solvent. Soybean, sal seed, and rice bran are also used directly after extraction.

A good solvent extraction shares many characteristics with a recrystallization solvent. Other species are therefore insoluble in the extraction solvent, according to this.

Common solvents such as ethyl acetate (8.1%), diethyl ether (6.9%), dichloromethane (1.3%), and chloroform (0.8%) dissolved up to 10% in water. In organic solvents like ethyl acetate (3%), diethyl ether (1.4%), dichloromethane (0.25%), and chloroform, water also dissolves.

Water is such a good solvent that it can easily dissolve a wide range of various compounds. Additionally, water dissolves more chemicals than any other liquid, earning it the moniker "universal solvent".

Using a Soxhlet equipment, several solvent extractions using acetone, chloroform, distilled water, ethyl acetate, hexane, and methanol were carried out. In a nutshell, 25 g of the powdered plant leaves were employed for soxhlet extraction for every 200 mL of each solvent.