Eucalyptus Distillery in Southern India

This is a eucalyptus distillery and what we have here is a direct fire boiler for producing steam. These gentlemen are the fabricators and the operators of this equipment. It’s a steam distillation unit. So, if you come over here to see the fire burning and inside here if water that is becoming steam. The steam is introduced into this. Steam. If you come over her you can see the steam. You can see the steam is produced, it comes down into here into the distillation unit. There are 1000 kilos of eucalyptus leaves inside here. Come around this way and watch your step in front of you. So, now you have the steam that’s going through the eucalyptus leaves and passes through this pipe. It comes into this, this is the condenser. The condenser has cold water running in and water running out and its cooling the steam back down to a liquid state. So, if you come over here and take a good picture. So, what we have here is the steams cooled to a liquid. The liquid comes into the essencier or the separator. The essential oil of eucalyptus floats on top of the water. So the water is pouring out here and the oil is being collected in here. When the oil reaches a certain level it comes out this point here. And if you notice, there's a rope tied around that tube. So, the rope is there to enable the essential oil to flow in a straight line and not splash. And that’s your steam distillation unit for eucalyptus.

Travel was planned and organized by ACHS.edu Founding President, Dorene Petersen

ACHS Study Tour: Silk, Spice and Sandalwood, The Aromatic Journey

This wonderful group of people in Southern India is part of a Healthy Of People and Environment Foundation, also known as the H.O.P.E. Foundation.  Rosemary and Thyme are also distilled at this location