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ROSEMARY OIL EXTRACTION
Essential Oil

 

Fresh organic rosemary

 

Slow Room Temperature Butane Extraction of 60 grams of rosemary yielded 6 grams of extraction.

1. Used 650 ml or butane solvent alone to extract from 60 grams of rosemary.
2. Stems and leaves were first air dried and then ground up using a dry blade vitamix on very slow setting.
3. I added 100 ml of acetone to the bottom of the extractor to aid in removing the extract once the process was completed.
4. I then filled my solvent tank with butane I have on site. I could have used disposable canisters to fill the solvent tank if needed. Or if I wanted a fast cold extraction I could have used the nozzle adaptor and the disposable canisters and performed a fast basic extraction.
5. The extraction flow rate was set to run for about 2 hours. I initially opened the valves and allowed the butane to flow in and then closed the valves before all the butane flowed through. I did this to allow it to soak for 1 hour before setting the rate to flow the remaining butane through over about 1 more hour.
6. The unit was set up for recovery and all the butane was recovered in 1.5 hours.
7. I poured the extract and acetone out and got about 6 grams of total extract.
8. I evaporated the acetone to gather the total weight data.
9. I then added 100 ml of naphtha to put it into solution.
10. Added it to a small separatory funnel and added premixed 90/10 of acetone/water.
11. Separated in 15 minutes and drained the 90/10 acetone/water out.
12. Added premixed 91/9 isopropyl/water, separated in 15 minutes and drained the 91/9 iso/water out.
13. Drained the remaining partially cleaned extract and naphtha into a different container.
14. Added 1 tbs of Granulated Activated Charcoal and mixed thoroughly. and filtered it out using 3 layers of coffee filters.
15. Evaporated the N solvent away and added in apricot oil just as the N solvent was nearing total removal with very low heat applied. 140F hot plate.
16. The end result was 1/4 ounces of very clean rosemary oil with 1/4 ounce of apricot oil
17. After review I concluded that I could have washed the extract just as it was when I drained it out due to the fact that there was not much of anything removed in the iso and acetone washes. Although from the pictures below you can see some coloration in the washes.

 

Pictured here is from top left to right and bottom left to right.

1. Rosemary Oil after cleaning washing with iso/water and acetone/water and after cleaning with charcoal - Very clean oil remained.
2. Aqueous Iso Wash collected in beaker.
3. Aqueous Acetone Wash collected in beaker.
4. Second triple filter used to filter out any remaining activated charcoal.
5. 1st triple filter used to filter out activated charcoal.

 

Refined and Very Clean Rosemary Oil in Naphtha suspension. Note that D-Limonene could have been used and with better results but this was to be used topically for aroma therapy use. Mild warming removed the total amount of N solvent and left the picture below.

 

 

 

 

Bottle Rosemary Oil

 

I performed a second pass/extraction on the same rosemary material prior to removing it from the extractor.
I used 500 ml butane and 100 ml acetone to make sure I got all the oil out if any was left behind.
I only drained the acetone and extract out and then dried the results after a 100% recovery of all the butane.

Movie LINK of sparkling crystals discovered in the 2nd pass.

Sure is pretty. Does not carry too much of the scent of rosemary and the leaves I removed from the extractor carried very little rosemary oil after extracted as well.