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).