Steam distillation

Shows one way to set up apparatus to carry out a steam distillation.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• organic
• chemistry
• limonene
• orange
• peel
• physical
• science
• quickfit

[98JMA]

@spotlightman1234

I did a liquid-liquid extraction with ethyl acetate for this, and the limonene shifts to the organic layer.

[spotlightman1234]

@MajorKoenig156 ME TOO i tried it and i didn't get any layers :(. i tried salting out the limoene but nothing happened.

[purplemutantas]

@dakiwininja Distillation can't be used to make alcohol. Alcohol is made by fermentation. Distillation is just the evaporation and condensation of a liquid. This is generally done to separate substances with different boiling points. The most well known example is the separation of water and ethanol. If you were going to distill ethanol for drinking, you would need a much larger setup. At least a 4 liter boiling pot. By the way, home distillation of ethanol is illegal in the US.

[mryellow123]

@dakiwininja steam distillation works by pumping steam through oil containing plant matter, then condensing the steam+oil. Used for production of essential oils, tea-tree, eucalyptus etc.

For alcohol you "reflux" by turning the condenser vertically, this essentially "reboils" the stuff over and over, then by keeping close control of the temp you can have only the alcohol vapour flow over the top, into a condenser, resulting in liquid alcohol at the end.

[dakiwininja]

i wonder if you could use that to make cheap alcohol

[MajorKoenig156]

i tried this at home with a 1000ml three-neck round flask and a liebig-cooler. the flask was about 1/3 full with orange peels. i distilled about 600ml clear liquid which has a strong orange-like smell but i don't see any layers, the liquid seems homogenous. any suggestions?

[bremac1000]

@eatshitdiecunt no it wont, the makers of shit drove the price down so low and nobody will now pay more than the lowest they ever paid, its not worth it with all the safrole in the world, we've all moved on to other chemical ventures in the business, mdma was killed by gangs and dicks. plus i guess you haven't read my paper, there is a new and total unwatched precursor chemical available in tanker trucks, one step to ketone or mda, two to mdma

[oneofusall]

How could you get so much of the oil? Tried to do the same thing and I got one or two drops. My chemistry teacher says that you need steam generator and feed the steam to the flask with orange... Did you add the oil? Fake?

[ontariobuds]

@mee198205 yes, any kind of pump will work. some will be too strong obviously, and some will be too weak. One that is too weak doesn't mean it won't filter, it will just be slow.

I would doing a trial run first to see how it works, then filter your solvent/solids. Correct me if I am wrong but isn't a fish pump the opposite of what you need? you need suction, not force. Doesn't a fish pump push air into the water? Don't push it through a filter, pull it though.

[mee198205]

Will a fish tank pump work as a vacuum if the essential oil being distilled needs to be under vacuum during distillation?