Perfumes are considered one of the products that give the user elegance and attractiveness. Since many of us want to know the method of extracting perfume oils in order to identify the contents of products that are purchased or for the purpose of trade and production, the Department of Chemistry has established under the generous sponsorship of Her Excellency the Dean of the College of Science and Human Studies in Hawatat Bani Tamim Dr. Hessa bint Saud Al-Hazani, a training course on " Essential Oil Extraction " presented by the supervisor of the Department of Chemistry, Dr. Mai Mostafa. From 9:00 am to 1:00 pm in the Nano Lab on Monday, 19/12/2022.
The course aimed at raising awareness of the components of the products that are purchased, as well as understanding the basics of extracting essential oils and how a profitable project can be established in this industry.
The course began with an explanation of the theoretical part, which included (an introduction to the types of essential oils and the basics of their extraction and preservation methods). In this part, the method of extracting the essential oil depends on the type of plant from which the fragrance is to be extracted, and examples include peppermint, lavender, thyme, rosemary, sage, Dutch lavender, lemon and others.
The part also includes clarification of methods for extracting essential oils, including traditional methods of distillation using water or steam, non-traditional methods of extraction using microwave radiation and ultrasonic radiation, extraction with organic solvents - extraction by hydraulic pressing, extraction by enzymatic hydrolysis and others.
After that, the practical part was applied to extract some essential oils in two ways (the first method is steam extraction, and the second method is by using organic solvents). The students figured out the difference between the two methods, referring to the purpose of using the aromatic extract. The session was highly praised by the attendant students.