Commercial distillation of eucalyptus oil
Destilación comercial de aceite de eucalipto
- Date
- 1852 · confidence medium
- Place
- Dandenong Ranges, Victoria, Australia
- Credited to
- Joseph Bosisto
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Steam extraction of the essential oil from eucalyptus leaves (Eucalyptus radiata) for medicinal and industrial use. Bosisto created Victoria's first eucalyptus oil industry.
Eucalyptus oil was already distilled around 1788 in Sydney; what is credited to Bosisto is the start of commercial production on an industrial scale from 1852.
What it led to
- a worldwide eucalyptus essential oil industry
- inhalation and rub preparations
- use as a solvent and in mineral flotation