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Essential oils can be extracted by using solvents such as petroleum ether, methanol, ethanol or hexane and is often used on fragile material such as jasmine, hyacinth, narcissus and tuberose, which would not be able to handle the heat of steam distillation.
A solvent extracted essential oil is very concentrated and is very close to the natural fragrance of the material used.
Although solvent extraction is used extensively, some people do not believe that it should be used for aromatherapy oils since a residue of solvent could be present in the finished product.
Some reports site a solvent residue of 6 - 20% still present in the finished extraction, but this was normally the case when benzene was the standard solvent used.
With hexane (a hydrocarbon) as the solvent material the solvent residue goes down to about 10 ppm (parts per million) and this is a extremely low concentration of solvent in the resultant product.
As mentioned, benzene is no longer used in the extraction method, since it is regarded as carcinogenic (cancer forming).
After the plant material has been treated with the solvent, it produces a waxy aromatic compound referred to as a "concrete".
To view further information on extraction methods in essential oil manufacture, please visit the following links
Other information 
| Underneath, please find a list and hyperlinks to essential oils, carrier base oils as well as specialized blends manufactured by us. | | Essential oils | Specialized blends | Carrier / base oils | Information on essential oils not sold by us | | Information on carrier oils not sold by us |
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