How to distinguish / differentiate pure and diluted essential oils?
Related Websites -
Guide to Fine Fragrance The more that you know about fine fragrance and everything that encompasses this topic, the better able you are going to be to choose the perfumes and the fragrances that best meet your personal needs, tastes and styles. Here are some more frequently asked questions about the use of fine...... -
What You May Not Know About Fat Most of are trained to recoil in horror at the mere mention of the word fat, and it automatically has negative connotations for most of us. However, there is such a thing as good fat, and if you’re trying to lose weight, it is important to make sure you are...... -
Week in Review - Preparing for Tax Season I am busy this weekend completing my IRS certification testing as a volunteer tax preparer in the VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) and TCE (Tax Counseling for the Elderly) programs. (More about that in a future post.) Before I resume that painfully slow and detailed activity, I wanted to refer you to some...... - Buying Heating Oil for Domestic Use We venture to look at four questions frequently posed by people who buy heating oil for domestic use. This is against a background where the people who buy this particular oil product tend to be either keen on using it in the industrial setting or in the domestic setting. Our......
- Chrysler's $2.99 Gas Promotion Chrysler is touting a new promotion that promises to make $2.99 gas available to Americans who buy a new car from them. The timing couldn't be better. With gas averaging over $4.00 in my area of San Francisco, I can personally say that I've witnessed some concerned people. So is......
toss the oil in the freezer or try distilling it.
The common carrier oils are grapeseed and sweet almond.
The freezing point of sweet almond is about 0f or -18c and grapeseed is close between -10 and -15c.
now expect to see some seperation of a pure essential oil since those oils are made up of several complex molecules. but if you have a diluted oil the usual ratio is 10% essential oil to 90% carrier, after a few days in the freezer you will end up with some seperation with a solid layer on the bottom and some liquid on top (assuming the essential oil has a lower freezing point). It takes a few days for the oils to seperate. this is an inaccurate test but is cheap and not terribley destructive to your oils.
Distillation is a much more accurate test and you don't need much more than a thermometer.
Google a certificate of analysis for the oil you are buying. On the CofA it usually has the common components of the oil and their various boiling points. Make sure its the same plant source and expect some sometimes extreme variation in the component ratios, but the major boiling points should be accurate.
Use a thermometer to measuer the steam temperature as you apply heat to your sample and verify the various boling points. You can also get an idea of the ratios of the fractions by how long it boils off a particular product. If you run into anything unusual its probably a carrier oil. Since everything is dissolved together the boiling points wont be exact but the thermometer in the escaping steam will make sudden jumps in temperature as the fractions boil off.
Actual lab glass may be required and in the case of some essential oils the cost of the required sample size would make it cheaper to send a sample to a lab.
Edited to add
oops totally forgot the simplest one
place a drop of your supected oil on a peice of white paper and let sit for a day or 2
if it evaporates completely, or only leaves a little residue its pure, if it significantly loses smell but is still an oil spot its diluted.
This will only work for volatile oils, oils that are heavier than water will not usually evap at room temp properly. I've had that problem with styrax, dragonsblood and amyris sandalwood.
Comment by Soapyguy — June 28, 2009 @ 9:15 pm
you could test the melting point/boiling points. If they are spot on (well I guess oils you couldn't do a melting point) then it's pure. If they are contaminated, then the bp will be higher than listed.
Comment by fijijenn — June 28, 2009 @ 9:15 pm
Labels are always good. When buying essential oils, the scent also comes as a factor in determining its grade. You might also consider asking around before buying essential oils cause some can become toxic if not handled properly.
Comment by brylletc — June 28, 2009 @ 9:15 pm