AGARWOOD OIL INDUSTRY

Agarwood is a resinous, fragrant and high valuable heartwood. The scientific name isAquilaria. It is also known as aloeswood,eaglewood, krissana in Thailand, gaharu in Malaysia and Indonesia, Oudh in the MiddleEast, chen-xiang in Chinese and jin-koh in Japan.Healthy agarwood is relatively light andpalecoloured.When the wood is infectedby a disease in the wild, the infection process producesa darkaromatic resin in
response to the attack. This results in a very
dense, dark, resin embedded hardwood.
This resin is highly prized and commands
an exceptionally high value because of its
distinctive fragrance and medicinal benefits.
The international trade in agarwood involves wood, wood chips, powder and oil.
Agarwood oil is also known as Oudh oil or Oud oil. The oil is conventionally obtained by the waterdistillation
process.
Agarwood oil can be applied directly to the
skin. Pure agarwood oil has a slow release
effect lasting at least 8 hours.

A small amount of agarwood oil can be
added to other oils to give a rich and
complex depth and to fix the aroma of
middle or top notes in perfume blending.
Pure agarwood oil is also burned as
incense, especially in Japan. It is used in
spiritual ceremonies or holy occasions as a
temple offering in the Muslim, Hindu and
Buddhist traditions.

* THE GLOBAL AGARWOOD MARKET :-

Globally, there are two major agarwood consumption regions:
• North-east Asia and the markets of Taiwan, Japan, and the Republic of Korea, and
• West Asia or the “Middle East” which centres on the countries of the Arabian Peninsula.
The uses of this resinous wood include
medicinal, religious and cultural applications in
various societies across Asia. No agarwoodproducing
species is known to grow west of
India, and yet it has been a traded item within
Arab-speaking commerce for over 2,000 years,
being sourced from both India and further east in
South-east Asia.


* AGARWOOD OIL: POSSIBLE USES AND HEALTH BENEFITS :-

When used in aromatherapy agarwood oil (Oud
oil) may help to treat anxiety, stress, depression
and other nervous system disorders.
Agarwood oil is used to treat cirrhosis of the
liver, kidney problems and lung and stomach
tumours.
Agarwood oil is also used as an anti-rheumatic,
an anti-convulsant, an anti-asthmatic, and a

carminative diuretic as well as an aphrodisiac.

* AQUILARIA SPECIES PRODUCES AGARWOOD :-

There are 17 species of Aquilaria, which can produce agarwood. Among them A. agollocha, A.
malaccensis and A. crassna are the best known. One of the main reasons for the relative rarity and
high cost of agarwood is the depletion of the wild resource. The endangered A. malaccensis has been
protected worldwide under the CITES convention since 1995 while all Aquilaria species have
received CITES protection since 2004. However, a number of countries have reservations outstanding
regarding this. In Bangkok, we are doing research work in conjunction with Asia Plantations to

develop the growing of Aquilaria trees in plantations to develop a sustainable source of Oud Oil.

* FACTS ABOUT AGARWOOD :-

• An 80-year-old Aquilaria tree can yield
6-9 kg of agarwood oil.
• A 50-year-old Aquilaria tree can yield
2.7 to 3.6 kg of agarwood oil.
• The amount of oud oil that is extracted
from each tree is not constant. Amounts
vary from using 1.2 kg to 3.6 kg of wood
to produce 1 tola (12 ml) of oud oil.
• The yield is totally dependent on the
infection level of the tree, also known as

resin formation.

* NATURAL RESIN FORMATION :-

The production of resinous compounds is a result
of a plant defence mechanism associated with
wounding; insects possibly assist fungal
invasion.
Phaeoacremonium parasitica is an important
fungus dealing with the resin formation process.
Naturally, the process of resin accumulation may
take many years and the longer the process, the
more expensive and highly valuable the resin.

* ARTIFICIAL RESIN FORMATION :-

First, a tree is drilled to make a hole about 5 mm
in diameter, with a 25 cm space in between the
holes.
Second, one ml of liquid inoculum is injected
with a syringe.
One month after inoculation, the effectiveness of
the process is checked by peeling the tree bark to
observe the disease symptoms.
A 7-8 year old plantation tree yields between 2-4

tolas of Oud oil.

* RESINOUS COMPOUNDS :-
The resinous compounds in agarwood oil
are detected by the Gas Chromatography-
Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) method.
Many chemical compounds are found in
Oud oil. Some major chemical
constituents that make agarwood oils
distinctive from other oils include:
• Agarol
• Agarospiral
• α-agarofuran and β-agarofuran
• Eudesmol
• Jinkohol-eremol
• Guaiol
• Selinene

• 2-(2-phenylethyl) chromone.

* RESINOUS COMPOUNDS :-
Some of these chemical compounds were
scientifically reported to have medicinal

benefits.
• Agarol is an effective, gentle and
pleasant tasting laxative
• Agarospiral and Jinkohol-eremol
are considered to be neuroleptic
• Agarofuran is an anti-tumour
compound
• α-eudesmol can protect against
brain injury
• Guaiol can be used as skin
lightening product
• Selinene has anti inflammatory
effects
• 2-(2-phenylethyl) chromone shows cytotoxicity against the human gastric cancer cell line.

* EXTRACTION PROCESS :-

The extraction process also affects the oil yields.
Water distillation methods using traditional apparatus is time
consuming with high-energy consumption and low yields. The
picture on the left shows the conventional distillation plant

with wood fired stoves.
The right hand picture is a modified distillation plant with gas fired
stoves and agitation systems. Energy and mass transfers have been
improved on the later model. However, the distillation system still
requires on-going research and modification.
Solvent extraction can be used in combination with distillation.
A hydrocarbon solvent is put in with the wood dust and
dissolves the essential oil. The resulting solution is then filtered
and put through a distillation process that concentrates the oil to
produce a resin. The remaining substance is a combination of
wax and essential oil called "concrete".
The supercritical fluid extraction method is non-flammable,
non-toxic, and chemically stable and consumes less energy. It
provides some advantages over the classical method, since
supercritical carbon dioxide has low viscosity, high diffusivity,
and good transport properties and gives faster extraction and
high yields.The extraction process can be further enhanced by a pre-treatment process that is affected by many
parameters including wood chip size, solid to liquid ratio, pH, soaking time and agitation speed. For
the distillation process more study and research is still required. There are questions such as whether
water or steam distillation is better. The impacts of pressure, temperature and distillation time should
be further investigated.
For solvent extraction, the effects of the different types of solvents, pressure, temperature, extraction
time and agitation speed should be studied.