How does it work?

Hydrocarbon extraction of essential oils involves immersing prepared botanical material (such as delicate flowers or resinous plants) in a non-polar hydrocarbon solvent like hexane, petroleum ether, or butane. The solvent dissolves the volatile aromatic compounds, along with waxes and other lipophilic substances, from the plant tissue at very cold conditions to maintain retention.

After sufficient contact time, the mixture is filtered to remove plant solids, and the solvent is carefully evaporated under vacuum, leaving a waxy concentrate which can be further processed to a purer absolute or essential oil concentrate, preserving fragile aromas better than distillation methods.