Author Topic: Sassafras Oil Stability  (Read 1496 times)

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Bubbleplate

  • Guest
Sassafras Oil Stability
« on: June 27, 2002, 03:32:00 AM »
SWIM has been driving around lately and noticing that lots and lots of land and building lots are being cleared for new homes. So SWIM pulls over to take a look, and quess what? Almost every building site where the bulldozers have been has a few big Sassafras trees uprooted and going to waste! So SWIM takes the roots, or strips the root bark off and takes it to her shack.
Now SWIM has been putting the root bark on trays, after cutting up into small pieces, dries them out in warm, not hot, and dark corner of her outhouse. When no longer wet, but still pliable, SWIM puts them up like so many beans in Mason jars, until SWIM can throw them in the old moonshine still.
But SWIM is thinking too hard again, and she has some questions:
When the root bark is drying, the the root beer smell is very strong. Now SWIM knows that Safrole has a very high boiling point, but SWIM also knows that sassy is an Essential Oil. So is SWIM loosing valuable oil to the air, or is the smell from other low boiling oils and ethers?  Would it be better NOT to dry bark and just throw in still?  What happens when store-bought Sassy oil is left with the jar top off? Does it disappear into thin air?
Please help SWIM out!

sYnThOmAtIc

  • Guest
Well you will lose some that is for sure.
« Reply #1 on: June 27, 2002, 03:50:00 AM »
Well you will lose some that is for sure. If you go to chemfinder.com or look at msds for safrole you will find a value for rate of evaporation and then you use that figure to calculate how much loss is possible at different temperatures and apt pressures.

(edit)
But remember that pure safrole oil will evap faster sine there is no dnese membrane it has to work its way through.
Why not just distill it fresh? you'll just end up with a lil extra water and terpines.

goiterjoe

  • Guest
bag and freeze it
« Reply #2 on: June 27, 2002, 04:07:00 AM »
Take that root bark and put it in thick ziplock bags.  Fill these up with enough water to cover the rootbark.  Put these in plastic trays and freeze them in your freezer.  Thaw them out and freeze them a couple of times.  This will break up the cell structure and make it a lot easier to steam distill out the oil.  There will also be no oil loss if they are kept in plastic bags.

lab_bitch

  • Guest
It would probably take millions of years to ...
« Reply #3 on: June 27, 2002, 07:41:00 PM »
It would probably take millions of years to completely evaporate.  Don't worry about it.