Patent ID: 7001629

Claim:
A method for the microwave extraction of a natural product from a biological material, said method comprising: placing said biological material in an enclosure without any solvent; applying microwave radiation to said biological material present in said enclosure, the microwave radiation effective to evaporate at least a part of the water contained in said biological material and the microwave radiation effective to split the cellular structure of said biological material and enable the release of at least a part of said natural product; intermittently applying reduced pressure within said enclosure during the application of microwave radiation to further the splitting up of the cellular structure of said biological material induced by application of the microwave radiation; heating said enclosure during at least a portion of the microwave radiation application to compensate for the drop in temperature resulting from evaporation of water from the biological material, wherein applying microwave radiation to said biological material, intermittently applying reduced pressure, and heating said enclosure causes hydro-distillation of the natural product by conveying the natural product in water vapor coming from the biological material; and separating a residual biological material from the natural product.