Much goes into the production of essential oils in wholesale. Often times it is a process that not many think about or think too long about, but it actually has a long and fruitful history. They have become a fundamental aspect of natural beauty products and are used to add an aromatic touch to any room. Some have also been used as natural insect repellants because of their unique properties.
Because of the diversity of the various wholesale essential oils, there are few methods of extracting the goodness contained in plant material, which is entirely dependent on the plant itself. Interestingly, it has been found that different extraction methods are possible from the same plant material, producing wildly different results.
We will examine how the art of extraction evolved and wholesale customized based on the essential oils you want.
What is Required of Wholesale Essential Oils?
No doubt you are aware of the many varieties of different herbal essences on the market. Wholesale essential oils are the purified essence of the original plant matter that puts it above its counterparts. While other extracts may contain chemicals that dilute or reduce the natural extract product too much, essential oils are the pure form of this plant extract. When purchasing your products, be careful and ensure that your choices are organic and natural.
The thought of buying essential oils wholesale is also beneficial for the average consumer or business, as the name suggests. You buy from the supplier. This alleviates the worry of not knowing where the product came from, with the caveat of having an ethical and naturally cultivated supply of products that you can normally rely on.
Every part is useful
Before we dive into wholesale essential oils extraction, we should know where they come from. As mentioned earlier, they are found in almost every aspect of the plant mass, from the roots to the leaves themselves. Peppermint and eucalyptus extract are obtained from leaves, for example. The bark of certain trees contains cinnamon extract up to and including the structure of the wood itself, from which sandalwood varieties can be extracted. Everything from the fruits to the peels themselves can have a rich tapestry of potential wholesale essential oils ready to be extracted.
Of course, not every piece of plant material can extract this exact product per se, some chemical accumulations of certain plant substances such as bananas simply cannot be extracted naturally and are often replicated in laboratories and in chemical production to induce the scent or aroma of the plant matter.
The art of extraction
Wholesale essential oil extraction is proving to be where the magic happens, especially given the wide range of methods used by previous generations. The substance itself is present in small glands present in the plant mass where extraction is possible. The manner in which this delicate substance is secreted and collected depends on the performance of the plant itself.
There is a great deal of trial and error involved in ensuring that the delicate wholesale essential oils are extracted with the least possible impairment or damage to the structural integrity of the substance’s cells.
While we don’t have the space to discuss each and every method, here are some of the more dominant schools of thought with extraction:
Steam distillation
By far the most popular form of modern extraction for wholesale essential oils is humble steam distillation. The process is a proven extraction method for a number of variants of plant material and provides a high substance range with very little interference.
The plant material is placed in a stainless steel tank and overwhelmed with either steam or boiling water to the point where the plant material completely crumbles. After the matter has evaporated, it releases all the goodness that is intended to become wholesale essential oils. The steam then filters into an inlet that leads to a separate condenser. The condenser drops the temperature dramatically by filtering the steam or hot water with cold water to bring the steam back into liquid form.
The cool water is filtered again through a so-called “separator” to separate the wholesale essential oils from the water.
This method is widely used by various suppliers of these products to this day.
Solvent extraction
Of course there are certain plant substances that cannot withstand the intense temperature peaks of steam distillation and require a more sophisticated method of isolation and extraction. Solvents such as hexane or pure ethanol are used to separate the substance from the sensitive material under mild heat. This creates a resin substance concentrate that contains wax, fragrance and the extract itself. The resin is then mixed with pure alcohol and distilled at low temperature to absorb the excess material and to properly collect the wholesale essential oils.
This method uses a much more sensitive aromatic detection of the plant material and is generally reserved only for the more sensitive plant material that requires it. Because of the time consuming nature of the process, it is typical that the wholesale essential oils extracted in this process are somewhat more expensive than those that are typically steam distilled.
CO2 extraction, also known as supercritical distillation
This is a fascinating wholesale method of extracting essential oils from plant material as it is almost a mixture of the two methods previously described. In this process, concentrated CO2 is used as a catalyst for the distillation process. The way it does this is that concentrated CO2 returns to its liquid state under pressure while maintaining its gaseous properties. This leads to it being referred to as “supercritical”.
The fascinating aspect comes when it interacts in an extraction container that contains the plant matter. Since the properties of liquid CO2 are similar to a solvent, resin, pigment and all kinds of substances are removed from the plant material. The future wholesale essential oils are then dissolved in the CO2 liquid. The liquid is then filtered through valves that release the CO2 from its pressure, converting it to a gas that leaves the wholesale essential oil in an attached separator ready to be collected.
There are several advantages to using this particular method. One of them is that after the last step there is no more solvent as the atmosphere naturally converts the CO2 back to gas, leaving only the wholesale essential oils. Another benefit is the retention of certain chemical compositions that are sometimes lost in steam distillation. In some cases it is its color and in others the aroma potency. These properties are sometimes lost in steam distillation due to changes in chemical structure due to the extreme heat.
These were three of the most popular methods for naturally wholesaling essential oils from plant material in a more natural way. There will always be a debate about which extraction method works best. For the most part, several methods are used for various chemical compounds present in the various botanicals that make up the magnificent wholesale essential oils.
