Davana Essential oil

Artemisia pallens, dhavanam from the Sanskrit name दमनक, is a small aromatic herbaceous plant native to Southern India. It bears numerous small yellow flower heads. The silvery white silky covering of down gives the foliage a grey or white appearance. It is long grown in gardens for its exquisite fragrance that was very popular in Southern India. 

Davana is used in Ayurvedic medicines and is an integral part of Indian folklore and culture. The fresh flowers of Davana are offered to Lord Shiva, perhaps as a token of recognition of its medicinal properties. The plant is braided into wreaths and bouquets for use in rituals and to decorate temples.

The essential oil of Davana is extracted by steam distillation of flowers of Davana (Artemisia pallens) plant. Davana Essential Oil possesses a rich, fruity, slightly woody aroma. 

Davana essential oil helps fight depression through relaxation. It reduces blood pressure in order to give relief from symptoms associated with stress and anxiety. The oil induces mental peace, positive energy and spiritualism. The oil relaxes contraction in muscles and blood vessels, while also having a relaxing effect on the brain and the nervous system. This helps you get a good sleep as well.

The oil has mild vermifuge and insect repellant properties and if used in fumigants, sprays or vaporiser, it disinfects the whole area. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Davana flowers are used during religious rituals.

The above products are available with Sugandhadhya and Cosmic Merchandiser.

Enfleurage and Hot Maceration

When the oil content in fresh plants is so small that the removal of oil is not commercially feasible by any other methods Enfleurage is used. In this an odorless, bland, fixed oil or fat is spread in a thin layer on glass plates. The  plant material most often flowers or petals are placed in the fat. The fat absorbs the fragrance. It is then removed and the product thus made is known as pomade.

Flowers were being processed by enfleurage i.e. extraction of essential oil with fat in the Grasse region of France long before the modern method of solvent extraction (extraction using volatile solvents). Enfleurage is an old fashioned method, passed on from father to son and perfected in the course of generations.  This technique is used to capture the true odor of flowers.

Certain flowers continue to produce aroma compounds ever after picking like Jasmine and Tuberose. Fat possess a high power of absorption and when kept in contact with the flowers readily absorbs the perfume emitted. During the entire process, which lasts for 8 to 12 weeks, freshly picked flowers are layered over the fat base, kept for 24hrs or more depending on the flower, and then replaced with fresh flowers. The fat is not renewed during the process. At the end the fat is saturated with the flower oil which is now known as pomade. The oil can be extracted from the pomade by washing it with alcohol. The resulting product is known as absolute de pomade.

Hot maceration is a modification of enfleurage. In this the time required for the concentration of fat with oil is reduced. Plant material is immersed in molten fat for 1 to 12hrs depending on the plant species. After each immersion the used plant material is separated and new added. After 10 to 12 immersions or till the fat is saturated, the fat is separated from the waste flower and water. This process is mainly used for highly delicate flowers which loose their fragrance rapidly like Lilly of the valley.

Expression of Citrus oils

Expression is also know as Cold-press Extraction or Scarification and is used for citrus peels in particular. This method uses only mechanical pressure (no heat is used)  for extraction of oil. The whole fruit is pierced to rupture the essential oil containing sacs. this causes the oil and color pigments to be released. The whole fruit is then pressed to squeeze out the juice and oil which is then centrifuged to separate out the oil. A variation to this process is to remove the peel from the fruit before the oil is expressed.

Why Expression?

Some essential oil like lemon oil, bergamot oil, orange oil cannot be extracted without decomposition and are usually obtained by Expression or by other mechanical means. Most nuts and seed like groundnut oil, mustard oil etc are also extracted using this method. The oil is forced to come out of the material under high mechanical pressure which produces good quality oil. Since no heat is involved the oil extracted smells very close to the original plant. In case of citrus fruits like lemon, bergamot, orange etc. the rind is squeezed to obtain the essential oil they secrete.

Methods of Expression

 

There are different ways to expression or cold pressing. One method that was practiced years ago is the spugna or sponge method. In this method the citrus fruit is halved and the pulp is removed. The oil is removed from the peel by pressing the peel against a hard object of baked clay which is place under a large sponge or by inverting the peel into the sponge. The oil emulsion is absorbed by the sponge. The sponge is then squeezed and the oil emulsion collected into a container.

SCODELLA

A second method know as the scodella method uses a shallow bowl with a hollow central tube similar in shape to a shallow funnel. The bowl is covered by blunt points onto which the whole citrus fruit is rolled by hand with pressure until the oil glands burst. The mixture of essential oil and aqueous cell content dribbles down the hollow tube into a container. The oil is then decanted and collected.

These processes are very slow and as a result machines have been designed for expression of citrus oils (Machine Abrassion).

PELATRICE METHOD OF EXPRESSION

In Pelatrice process the fruit are fed from a hopper into the abrasive shell. The fruits rotate againt the shell by a slow moving screw which help rupture the oil glands releasing the oil-water emulsion. The fruit is then pressed under rollers covered in abrasive spikes which burst the remaining oil cavities. The oil-water emulsion is washed away by a fine spray of water. The emulsion collected passes through centrifugal seperators which remove the solids and the water yielding pure essential oil.

SFUMATRICE EQUIPMENT

In Sfumatrice process there are metallic chains that are drawn by two horizontal ribbed rollers. The peel passes through these rollers during which it is pressed and bent to release their oil. The rollers are washed by a fine spray of water. The oil-water emulsion collected is then passed through centrifugal separators so that purified oil can be produced.

Distillation Of Essential Oils

Natural essential (or volatile) oils are the volatile, odoriferous oils obtained from plants. These are found in special cells, glands or ducts located in different parts of a plant such as the leaves, barks, roots, flowers and fruits and sometimes in just one or two parts. Essential oils are isolated from various plant parts such as leaves, peel, bark, root, grass, wood, resin, berries, seeds, flowers, rhizome and buds. These essential oils are extracted by either cold pressing or distillation. 

Distillation of aromatic herbs implies vaporising or liberating the oils from the plant cells in presence of temperature and moisture and then cooling the vapour mixture to separate out the oil from water. It is the most popular method in use today for producing majority of essential oils throughout the world. The apparatus used typically consist of a still or a tank in which the plant material is kept, condenser where the vapour mixture cools down and a receiver where the cooled down liquid is collected. There are three types of distillation

Water / Hydro-distillation

This process involves placing the desired plant material in a still and then submerging it into water. The water is then brought to boil. The steam generated into the system penetrates the cell wall of the plant material and the essential oil trapped is released and becomes volatile. The mixture of oil and water vapours thus generated is cooled and two distinct layers of liquid are formed. This is then collected and the oil is separated from the water. Hydro distillation is used when plant material is dried and will not be damaged when boiled. A special form of hydro distillation used in India is Deg-Bhapka. It is used to make attars and fragrant water (hydrosols).

Water & Steam / Hydro-Steam distillation

In this process the plant material is supported above the boiling water by a perforated grid or plate in the tank. The water is boiled using a furnace or heating coils. The water boils generating steam which passes through the plant material and releases the essential oil in vapour form. This vapour mixture is then passed through the condenser. The vapour cools down to form two distinct layers of oil and water in the receiver. The oil is then separated. Typical example of this system is the Field Distillation Unit.

   

Steam / Direct distillation

In Steam Distillation steam is directly applied to the plant material in the tank. The steam is generated separately and introduced into the tank by a steam line.  The steam passes through the plant material releasing the volatile oil. This vapour mixture cools when it passes through the condenser and gives two distinct layers of oil and water which is collected in a receiver.

Introduction

Sugandhāḍhya is a Sanskrit word which means rich in fragrance. We are MSME registered company found in December 2018. We manufacture handmade products like incense sticks, Dhoop cones, Dhoop sticks, hand poured scented candles, airfreshner, perfumes and many other perfumery products. The company is owned by Miss Krutika Chandriani who holds M.Tech (Integrated) Biotechnology from D.Y. Patil University and Diploma in Aroma Processing and its Management, NSQF level - 4 from Fragrance And Flavour Development  Centre, Kannauj. Sugandhāḍhya take corporate and personal gifting, bulk orders.

Cosmic Merchandiser and Exporters is again MSME registered company established in 2015. We specialise in retail and wholesale of hand poured scented candles, various incense products, electric and non-electric diffusers and essential and aroma oils. The owner Mrs. Falguni Chandriani is a BA graduate From Mumbai University with certificate in ‘Essential Oils, Perfumery, And Aromatherapy’ (2016) From Fragrance and Flavour Development Centre, Kannauj.

Our motto is to give our customers good quality product and services.

About this blog

The material in this blog is intended for education and general interest and is not intended or implied to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment by a licensed medical practitioner. While every effort has been made to provide accurate and up-to-date information, no expressed or implied guarantee as to the effects of the suggestions can be given nor should be taken either now or in the future. Information may change over time as further research and clinical data become available. Any application of information set forth in this blog is at the reader’s sole discretion and risk and is beyond the blogger’s control. The blogger assumes no responsibility for any action taken and disclaim any liability for damages arising directly or indirectly either now or in the future. References to the medical and folk use of particular plants in herbal medicine and their actions are intended to provide background information only, and are not intended as a guide for self-treatment.

All of us know about fragrance and flavours. Our world is drenched in it. This industry is very much interwoven into our life that it is unable to imagine our soaps without fragrance and cold drinks and cookies without flavour. This blog is made to introduce you to the world of fragrances and flavours. How they are extracted, blended and used. We will give you the best ideas to use them in various products. We will also talk about how fragrances affect us mentally and emotionally, how they help refresh, relax or comfort us as well as how they are used topically or by diffusion to helps us.