As a popular oil, copaiba is often subject to adulteration. Copaiba is produced in the form of liquid resin and is then steam-distilled into oil. The resin itself is fairly cheap, but the distillation requires advanced equipment. Very few companies have the capacity to distill the resin to produce a pure oil. This oil is commonly adulterated with carrier oils in particular, such as cooking oils, castor oil, or coconut oil. Another option is to dilute the actual oil with the resin.
Similar Oils and Their Isolates
Copaiba can be adulterated with several similar oils or their fractions. Clove, for example, contains eugenol, beta carophyllene, and alpha humulene. Eugenol is also present and is used the most through fractional distillation to get these isolated compounds. Other oils can also contribute to making copaiba oil because they contain isolated compounds such as bisabolene beta, which is taken from naoi oil.
Since copaiba is so expensive to distill, often the resin is sold as the oil. It contains all of the molecules of the oil, as well as the non-volatile components that are not contained in the oil. Due to the high volume of adulterated oil on the market, it is essential to purchase oils from a source that has a trusted third-party tester.
