Diseño y construcción de un alambique semiautomático para la obtención de aceites esenciales de eucalipto y ciprés

Abstract

There is still much to investigate the effectiveness of the still in the distillation of essential oils. Therefore, it is suggested that the effect of temperature variation on the production of essential oils can be further investigated. For this reason, the objective was to design and build a semiautomatic still with a capacity of 70 liters to obtain essential oils from eucalyptus and cypress by using a methodology that focuses on exploring the properties and applications and analyzing the selected extraction method. The extraction method chosen is steam stripping, which includes a pressure vessel, a distillation column, a coil-type exchanger, and a decantation system. The ASME code designs these components. In addition, the thermal design of these elements is carried out, validating them using the finite element method and then implementing a semi-automatic system to supervise the process. Subsequently, the individual construction of each element is carried out, followed by the assembly of the system with the proper functional tests to obtain eucalyptus and cypress essential oil. The result was that this still had a successful design and construction, complying with the established quality and safety standards. The quality of the essential oil obtained is validated through a quality control method. Characterization was carried out to evaluate the quality of the extracted oils using parameters such as density, pH, and infrared spectroscopy. This project has demonstrated the importance of careful planning, attention to detail, and collaboration between disciplines to achieve a final product that effectively meets its objectives.