AbstractThe deterpenation of orange and lemon oils has been studied by preparative adsorption chromatography using silica gel in glass columns of 43 cm length and diameters of 2.5, 5.1 and 9.0 cm.The terpene hydrocarbons were eluted withn‐hexane/ethyl acetate 25:1 and the oxygenated compounds were eluted subsequently with ethyl acetate. The eluted fractions were collected and analysed by gas chromatography. The influence of column diameter and product feed rate on the degree of deterpenation has been studied.An empirical equation which relates the degree of deterpenation to the recovery of enriched oil and the product feed rate has been derived. This relationship can be used to predict the performance of any given system based on silica gel adsorption chromatograph