Maceration process
Maceration process is a traditional and commonly used method [54]. Macerated oils are referred to as infused oils [18]. Macerated oil has an advantage over distilled oil because it produces more essential oil due to the absorption of larger molecules than those trapped in the distillation process which in turn preserves most of the plant’s valuable compounds. Maceration is a variation on enfleurage. In this method, plant material should be as dry as possible because any moisture will cause the oil to rancid and lead to the growth of germs. In maceration process, plant material is finely crushed, or ground into coarse powder and placed in a closed vessel. Solvent (Menstruum) is added. The mixture is allowed to stand for 1 week and is shaken occasionally (it depended upon the plant species). The liquid is strained. oil residue (Marc) is pressed to recover any remaining liquid. Strained and pressed liquids are mixed. Finally, liquids are clarified through filtration or subsidence. Maceration method is useful for flowers whose physiological properties are lost rapidly after harvest after their harvest. For example, lily of valley. In the hot maceration process, the plant material crushed, or ground into coarse powder and is immersed in molten fat heated at 45-60 °C for 1 to 2 h, depending upon the plant species. Therefore, due to heat and immersion in fat, the long enfleurage time is reduced. After each immersion, the fat is filtered and separated from plant material. the fat is separated from waste flowers after 10 to 20 immersions. Finally, absolute of maceration is obtained through the process of extraction and concentration under reduced pressure of fat containing oil [17, 18, 53, 54, 55]. Figure 8 shows a schematic of maceration process (figure 8).