**2.6 Microwave extraction**

This technique is called Solvent Free Microwaves Extraction. It consists of extracting the essential oil using constant energy microwave radiation and a vacuum sequence. This technology is a combination of microwave heating and atmospheric pressure distillation. This method consists of introducing the part of the plant to be extracted into microwave reactor, without organic solvent/water. The increase in the

*Phytochemistry, Medicinal Uses, and Beneficial Nutritional Effects of Essential Oils DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.112696*

**Figure 4.** *Cold pressing method [19].*

**Figure 5.** *Microwave-assisted hydrodistillation [16].*

vegetable aqueous fraction allows the rupture of the glands containing the essential oil. Finally, a cooling system outside the microwave allows the condensation of the distillate (**Figure 5**). This process seems to be more competitive and economical than the conventional methods [22].

**Figure 6.** *Enfleurage of rose petals.*
