The invention discloses a process for extracting
curcumenol by a molecular
distillation method. The process comprises the following steps of: adding
zedoary oil into a feeding unit; firstly carrying out normal-temperature degassing under vacuum degree, and then opening
condensed water and an oil-bath heater; after the temperature is stable, starting scraping-film stirring; then dripping the
zedoary oil into a distiller; after the dripping is finished, collecting direct condensation fractions, external condensation fractions, unevaporated residual parts and degassed light components and losing; after the unevaporated residual parts are placed for one day, precipitating a great amount of crystals, using
petroleum ether to carry out milliliter pulping, filtering, and
drying to obtain white
crystal; using
alcohol with the
mass concentration being 95% to recrystallize the
crystal, and obtaining the
curcumenol crystal with the
gas chromatography GC being larger than 99%. The process disclosed by the invention has the advantages that according to the molecular
distillation principle, the
zedoary oil is treated by molecular
distillation, the liquid part is condensed into liquid on an internal condenser by short-process distillation, then the discharged material is discharged, the zedoary
oil can be rapidly separated from the
curcumenol, and by combination with the recrystallizing technology, the curcumenol with high purity can be obtained.