Distillation Equipment for Distilling Herbal Essential Oils

Essential oils made from herbal products like plant leaves, blossoms, wood and roots have uses in aromatherapy, massage, candle making, perfumery and alternative healing practices. In order to distill herbs to their essences, you will need a few pieces of distillation equipment.

Heat Source

• One of the first pieces of equipment you will need to consider is the heat source for your still. This furnace applies heat to the retort. You can use a propane or butane flame or an electrical heat source. You should be able to control the heat of the flame, as you need to keep the water in the retort at its boiling point for several hours.

Retort

• The retort is the holding tank. It contains the water and the plant matter, which is placed above the water on a grate that acts much like a vegetable steamer. A steam outlet at the top of the retort allows the oily vapor to move to the condenser.

Condenser

• The condenser is a container that collects the steam from the retort. The steam cools in the condenser before it moves on to the separator.

Separator

• This may be the most important piece of distillation equipment, as it is the piece that separates the water vapor from the oily herb essences in a passive fashion.

Tubes

• Tubing or piping connects the various chambers of the still. The tube leading from the retort to the condenser needs to be surrounded by cold water in order to encourage condensation.

Product and Byproduct

• At the end of the distillation process, you will have two substances in your separator. Your base product is the essential oil which you set out to make. The byproduct of the distillation process is called a hydrosol, which is also often valuable in aromatherapy applications.