The Separation of Desirable High-Boiling Components from Fusel Oil

¹ Department of Viticulture and Enology and Department of Chemistry University of California, Davis

It has been demonstrated that the separation of a pleasant smelling ester fraction from fusel oils is feasible on a pilot plant scale. The degree of drying of the fusel oil obtained by saturation with sodium chloride has been found sufficient to permit practical separations by fractional distillation. Distillations at atmospheric pressure result in rather severe decomposition of the ester fraction. Reduced pressure distillations provide ester fractions with less decomposition. Organoleptic analyses indicate that the esters isolated at the lowest pressures should be of value in enhancing the aroma of dessert wines. The somewhat cognac-like aroma of the ester fractions isolated at higher pressures suggests that these fractions might be of value as flavoring agents for beverage brandies.