Instructions Things You'll Need Measuring cup Fresh ginger 1 1/2 cups olive oil Oven-safe bowl

Cheese grater Unbleached cheese cloth Rubber band Funnel Vials

1 Rinse one cup of chopped fresh ginger (including the skin) and let dry for several hours. 2 Pour one 1 cups of olive oil in an oven-safe bowl. Shred the chopped ginger using a clean, dry cheese grater and transfer to the bowl. Stir the olive oil and shredded ginger. 3 Place the mixture in the oven and let it simmer under low heat (150 degrees Fahrenheit) for about two hours. 4 Cover a bowl with unbleached cheese cloth. Place a rubber band around the bowl to hold the cheese cloth in place. 5 Pour the ginger oil into the bowl. Remove the rubber band, twist the cheesecloth and squeeze the remaining oil with clean dry hands. 6 Transfer the ginger oil into vials or bottles. Use a funnel to prevent messy spills. 7 Label the bottles with the exact date when you made the ginger essential oil blend. The normal shelf life of essential oils is about six months. After this time, the ingredients begin to decompose. Store the ginger essential oils in a cool, dark place.

Simple Hydrodistillation (Lab-Scale)

Hydrodistillation is a special type of distillation (a separation process) for temperature sensitive materials like natural aromatic compounds. Many complex organic compounds tend to decompose at sustained high temperatures. Separation by normal distillation would then not be an option, so water or steam is introduced into the distillation apparatus. By adding water the boiling point of the compounds is depressed, allowing them to evaporate at lower temperatures, preferably below the temperatures at which the deterioration of the material becomes appreciable. After distillation the vapors are condensed as usual, usually yielding a two-phase system of water and the organic compounds, allowing for simple separation. Ginger boils at 256C while water boils at 100C. So, by gently heating the mixture, the most volatile component will concentrate to a greater degree in the vapor leaving the liquid. Some mixtures form azeotrope, where the mixture boils at a lower temperature than either component. A mixture of 40% ginger and 60% water boils at 80C. The mixture is put into the round bottomed flask and the fractioning column is fitted into the top. As the mixture boils, vapor rises up the column. The vapor condenses on the glass platforms, known as trays, inside the column, and conducts back down into the liquid below, refluxing distillate. The column is heated from the bottom. The hottest tray is at the bottom the coolest is at the top. At steady state conditions the vapor and liquid on each tray is at equilibrium. Only the most volatile of the vapors stays in gaseous form all the way to the top. The vapor at the top of the column then passes into the condenser, which cools it down until it liquefies. The condensate that was initially very close to the azeotrope composition becomes gradually richer in water. The process continues until all there is no more oil produced (Wikipedia, 2006). In laboratory distillation, several types of condensers are commonly found. The Liebig condenser is simply a straight tube within a water jacket, and is the simplest (and relatively least expensive) form of condenser. The Graham condenser is a spiral tube within a water jacket, and the Alhin condenser has a series of large and small constrictions on the inside tube, each increasing the surface area upon which the vapor constituents may condense. Being more complex shapes to manufacture, these latter types are also more expensive to purchase. Condensers are usually sold by the mm: 100, 200, and 400 mm are common lengths, and are connected to the other vessels with ground glass fittings (Feist, 2000).