Recovery of residual plant components after distillation of essential oils

摘要

Methods for recovering valuable compounds and substances from plants after distillation of oils are disclosed. The methods involve various aqueous and non-aqueous solvent extraction of plant material from which oils have been distilled previously.

主权项

1. A method for obtaining one or more substances from plant material, comprising:
(a) providing post-distillation plant material from which essential oils have been removed by water or steam distillation; (b) contacting the post-distillation plant material with a first solvent under conditions permitting extraction of at least one of the one or more substances from the plant material into the first solvent, wherein the first solvent is a polar solvent, thereby producing a first extract and a polar solvent-extracted plant material; (c) separating the first extract from the polar solvent-extracted plant material; (d) contacting the polar solvent-extracted plant material with a second solvent, which is different from the first solvent, under conditions permitting extraction of at least another one of the one or more substances from the polar solvent-extracted plant material into the second solvent, thereby producing a second extract; and (e) obtaining the one or more substances from the first extract or the second extract, or from the first extract and the second extract.