Why and How Ethanol + Water + Raw Material contain Essential Oil

[nzhuhu]

Dear everyone. I wish you all happy and healthy after this Covid pandemic.Last week i used ethanol mixed with raw materials, got the solution ( suppose ethanol + oil + wax +etc ). And I add water to that Ethanol Solution above with ratio 1/1...inside the mixing solution it formed a resin ( slime type, stick to dry hand but not to wet hand ). I take a small slime or resin and let it dry at room temperature, the resin getting harder and solid. I wonder what happens inside the ethanol solution when mixed with water. Is it possible to put this slime or resin in water and use vacuum distillation to extract the essential oil ?

 

[Baluncore]

Was the wax from a scented candle ?
That might explain the source of the essential oil.

 

[nzhuhu]

Was the wax from a scented candle ?
That might explain the source of the essential oil.

I am sorry did not mention the Material is Lemongrass. Lemongrass submerged in Ethanol and i drain out that solution ( ethanol plus everything containt inside lemongrass suppose wax,lipid,essential oil. Then add water to this solution. Then inside that new solution it appear or form an resin or slime type. I do not know what happen.

 

[Baluncore]

I am sorry did not mention the Material is Lemongrass.

Where do you get the mixture from ?
How much material do you have ?
It may be easier and cheaper to buy new lemongrass oil than to refine the mixture you have.

 

[nzhuhu]

Where do you get the mixture from ?
How much material do you have ?
It may be easier and cheaper to buy new lemongrass oil than to refine the mixture you have.

I bought ethanol medical grade 90% concentrate and raw lemongrass tree chopped to pieces. Put 1kg of chopped lemongrass to pot + 1 litter of Ethanol 90%. After 5days the Ethanol's color turn from crystal white to dark yellow. Then I drain the mixture out and add 1 litter of water to the mixture to create new solution. After 1 day inside new solution it appear Slime, the liquid is yellow milk colour not dark yellow any more. I know buying the lemongrass essential oil is easy but I would like to do experiment with ethanol.

 

[Baluncore]

Why do you use ethanol, was it recommended somewhere ?
Is lemongrass oil soluble in ethanol?
You may be extracting compounds from the plant that you do not want with the ethanol as a solvent.

You could use steam distillation as used by the lemongrass oil extraction industry.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_distillation

Know your solvents. There are some plants that contain active agent A and toxic agent B. If you use the correct solvent at the right pH, you will extract compound A only, and have a good time. Those who use ethanol as the solvent do not realize they have no A, but instead have extracted compound B. They thought ethanol liqueur was safe because people drink it. Those amateur chemists die painfully from toxin B.

 

[nzhuhu]

Why do you use ethanol, was it recommended somewhere ?
Is lemongrass oil soluble in ethanol?
You may be extracting compounds from the plant that you do not want with the ethanol as a solvent.

You could use steam distillation as used by the lemongrass oil extraction industry.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_distillation

Know your solvents. There are some plants that contain active agent A and toxic agent B. If you use the correct solvent at the right pH, you will extract compound A only, and have a good time. Those who use ethanol as the solvent do not realize they have no A, but instead have extracted compound B. They thought ethanol liqueur was safe because people drink it. Those amateur chemists die painfully from toxin B.

Wow, I have no idea about toxic. Would you kindly point me where to learn about it ?. I wanted to try the ethanol way because: after i have the solution of Ethanol with Lemongrass,I put water into the solution ( New Mix Solution )to hope after run the New Mix Solution under Vacuum Distillation i will have water and some essential oil and wax,etc inside my Cooking flask. Then i will use vacuum distillation again to remove water and hopefully the essential oil will appear on top of my hydrosol in collecting flask. But the Slime occur inside the New Mix Solution above so i did remove all the liquid ( water + ethanol ) from the cooking flask then add water in and run the vacuum distillation but no essential oil appear ( smell very good and fresh ).
My real goal is to achive the best result with Vacuum Distillation so far Water Solvent is not quite good yield so i turn into ethanol ( extract quick oil from Sterm ).

 

[Baluncore]

According to; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-44709-y
The major constituents of lemongrass essential oil are neral (31.5%), citral (26.1%), and geranyl acetate (2.27%).
You probably need to identify the missing 40%. More components are listed here;
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Lemongrass-oil#section=Hazard-Classes-and-Categories
If you use ethanol, you should identify the different ways these different compounds will react with ethanol.
The extraction process should preserve all the constituents, which is probably why steam distillation is employed.