These days I am trying to extract the essential oil from Black seed (Nigella sativa) and the problem is that since my apparatus scale is small (250 ml flask), the amount of extracted oil is very low. The layer of extracted oil is visible but while removing the aromatic water, the top oil layer will stick to the apparatus wall. I read lots of articles but the only mentioned point in them is removing the oil and drying under anhydrous sodium sulfate.
Looking forward to your answers~
Thank you in advance.
Add di-ethyl ether or pet-ether to extracted essential oil in clevenger apparatus and separate the organic layer and dry on anhydrous sodium sulfate before drying to get the exact essential oil content.
all the best
Venkata Narasimhaji Oh yes I see. The problem is that the amount of essential oil is less than 1 ml and I afraid it will evaporate with di-ethyl ether. Do you have any recommendation for this situation as well? Thanks a lot~
Yes, nothing to worry... At room temp itself diethyl ether will evopourate and your volatile oil remains there. All the best
I found the answer suitable for the situation. Dry at atmospheric temperature after use of small amount of volatile organic solvent and sodium sulfate to remove water.
Venkata Narasimhaji Yannick Stephane Fongang Fotsing Thanks for your help~ Ill try it.
in a similar situation. I used diethyl ether and I removed water by sodium sulfate anhydrous then evaporate the solvent overnight on a fridge shelf. I had got a good yield.
Samah N El Shafeiy I used your advise but instead of diethyl ether, I used n-hexane. I evaporate solvent for 14 hours. Thank you ^^
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