ORANGE OIL
THE SCENT OF THE CITRUS FRUIT
Fresh, fruity, sunny and lemon-like, these pleasant
attributes spring to mind when an orange is peeled some-
where near. The peel with its ethereal oil perfectly pro-
tects the inner fruit. No insect or bird can harm it as long
as the peel is intact. Among the citrus fruits, the orange
is the one that is cultivated by far the most. Besides Flori-
da, the biggest cultivation areas are Brazil, Spain and
South Africa. However, the popular fruit originally came
from Asia, then became native in Europe in the 15
th
cen-
tury, and then was brought from Spain to Haiti by
Columbus in the year
1493. From there it
was distributed in
South America.
The German
name
for
orange is
„Apfelsine“
and still tells a lot about
its origin. „Sina“ means
China and „Apfelsine“ there-
fore means „Chinese apple“.
Indeed the fruit was cultivated in
China already 2000 BC. The orange oil with its dis-
tinctive scent is used in many ways, be it for flavouring
juices, in cosmetics, or in technical applications, e.g. as a
natural solvent in paints.
Extraction of the ethereal oil
The ethereal oils contained in the orange peel (the main
substance is limonene) have a deodorising effect. The
peels are processed by distillation or decating which pro-
duces a traditional plant raw material that is mainly used
as biogenic solvent in paints and in cleaning, care and
maintenance products. The effect is similar to turpentine
from resins but with a more pleasant smell.
The natural orange oil that is used at AURO
is an ethereal oil that is won as a byproduct
of the orange juice production in South
America. The „snap test“ shows that the
oil can mainly be localised in the peel.
Snap a piece of peel and see the oil
squirt out along the break line. The pro-
duction of orange oil leaves big amounts
of pesticide-free peel remains that can per-
fectly be used as animal food.
At AURO, the orange oil is used in many cleaning prod-
ucts. The distilled, strongly fragrant parts are used in per-
fumes or in aromatherapy, the less fragrant terpene bases
as solvent for resins and oils.
MULTIPLE USES
IN AROMATHERAPY
IN PHARMACEUTICALS
IN COSMETICS
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