1、 Purpose and structural characteristics of extraction tank

Suitable for the separation of aromatic oils and the recovery of organic solvents in industries such as traditional Chinese medicine, plants, food, biology, and light chemicals, including atmospheric pressure, pressure, pressure reduction, extraction, warm soaking, hot reflux, forced circulation, percolation, and aromatic oil separation.

2、 Composition of traditional Chinese medicine extraction tank:

2.1 It consists of an extraction tank, condenser, cooler, aromatic oil separator (excluding single tanks), filter, and pneumatic control system for the slag gate. (See attached figure)

2.1 The external structure of traditional Chinese medicine extraction tanks mainly includes forms such as regular cone, mushroom shaped, straight tube, inclined cone, inverted cone, etc; It can be divided into dynamic extraction tank and static extraction tank based on the presence or absence of stirring. It mainly consists of the tank body, slag discharge door, feeding port, feeding port and other parts. The parts in contact with the materials are all made of stainless steel, which has good corrosion resistance and fully meets GMP standards. The main body of the tank includes an inner cylinder, jacket layer, insulation layer, support ears, quick opening (or spiral) slag discharge door, etc; The insulation layer of the traditional Chinese medicine extraction tank is made of rock wool as the insulation material.

The extraction tank can be set with different steam inlet methods according to user requirements: direct inlet with jacket, inlet with heating tube inside the tank, and inlet at the bottom of the slag outlet valve.

The size and safety of the bottom slag discharge door of the equipment have always been a major challenge in this industry. The quick opening door adopts compressed air power, with a single gas cylinder opening and closing, and a four cylinder rotating lock, which is safe and reliable, easy to operate, and convenient for slag discharge. It guarantees 100% no leakage or detachment during use.

2.4 Function of foam collector: connected to the evaporation chamber of the extraction tank, it is mainly used to eliminate the foam generated when decocting Chinese medicine, and prevent the drug residue in the drug vapor from being brought into the heat exchanger.

The main function of the 2.5 condenser is to condense the drug vapor.

The main function of the cooler is to cool the medicinal solution.

The main function of the 2.6 oil-water separator is to separate the cooled recovered liquid during oil extraction, in order to obtain the desired aromatic oil.

2.7 The traditional Chinese medicine extraction tank is used in a single container during the extraction process. The solvent is added to the medicinal surface from top to bottom, which can effectively dissolve the solutes in the medicinal materials, continuously increasing the solvent mass in a gradient until it is completely dissolved, resulting in an effective ingredient rate of *. At the same time, this device is composed of a single auxiliary device forming an independent system, which can be combined or separated. Equipment utilization rate *, solvent saving, simple operation, small footprint, and low investment.

3、 Main technical parameters of traditional Chinese medicine extraction tank:

Extraction tank capacity: 1m3, 1.5m3 2m3 3m3, 5 m3, 6 m3 8 m3, 10 m3

Water extraction temperature: 90~100℃

Alcohol extraction temperature: 78~83℃

Extraction time: 5-6 hours/batch

Vacuum degree: 0.05~0.08Mpa

Use pressure: 0.08~0.2Mpa

4、 Extraction principle of traditional Chinese medicine extraction tank

4.1 Water extraction: Water and traditional Chinese medicine are loaded into the extraction tank, and steam is supplied to the interlayer. After boiling in the tank, the steam is reduced and kept boiling. If closed extraction is required, cooling water is supplied to cool the evaporated vapor and return it to the extraction tank, maintaining circulation and temperature.

4.2 Alcohol extraction: First, add the drug and ethanol in a certain proportion into the tank, and then seal the interlayer with steam. Open the cooling water to reach the desired temperature in the tank, and then reduce the heating steam to allow the cooled alcohol to reflux. In order to improve efficiency, a pump can be used to force circulation, so that the liquid medicine is sucked out from the bottom of the tank through the pump and then returned to the tank through the reflux port at the top of the tank. The traditional Chinese medicine extraction tank is equipped with a distributor to evenly return the reflux liquid to the tank and relieve local channeling.

4.3 Oil extraction: First, add the traditional Chinese medicine containing volatile oil into the extraction tank, open the circulation valve of the oil separator, close the bypass reflux valve, open the steam valve to reach the volatilization temperature, and then open the cooling water for cooling. The cooled medicine should maintain a certain liquid level difference in the separator to separate it.

5、 Operating procedures

After completing the preliminary preparation work, pour the medicinal herbs into the tank from the feeding port on the upper part of the tank, open the inlet valve, and determine the amount of water (or organic solvent) to be added according to the preparation process requirements, which is about 5-8 times the amount of medicinal herbs. After adding the medicine and water to the tank, there should be some space left.

5.2 Turn on the heating jacket steam of the extraction tank. If rapid heating is required, the straight through steam valve can also be opened to quickly heat to boiling. After the solution in the tank boils, the solution steam carries lower boiling aromatic oil and rises to the condenser, then flows through the cooler to the oil-water separator. According to the principle of different specific gravity of oil and water, the aromatic oil is separated and collected for later use. After the oil is basically collected, the solvent in the oil-water separator is returned to the extraction tank to maintain the amount of solution in the extraction tank. The boiling time for secondary extraction is about 2 hours. After the secondary extraction is completed, turn off the steam. Open the drain valve and pump the extracted liquid from the tank through the filter to the storage tank.

5.3 Add the solution for the second time, extract for about 1 hour and 30 minutes using the sequential extraction method, and combine the two liquids. Add the solution for the third time, extract for 40 minutes to 1 hour, and combine the three liquids. At this point, the solution in the extraction tank is colorless (the active ingredients of the drug are basically extracted), and the residual liquid is naturally filtered. Then, the slag discharge valve is opened to discharge the drug residue. If ethanol is used as the extraction solution, add an appropriate amount of water after the third filtration of the drug solution, open the steam to recover the ethanol solvent for later batches, and then discharge the drug residue.

After discharging the drug residue, open the cleaning valve for on-site cleaning (CIP). After cleaning, close the discharge door and proceed with the next batch of feeding.

This equipment can be used for various process operations in the traditional Chinese medicine, food, and chemical industries, including atmospheric pressure, water decoction, wet soaking, hot reflux, forced circulation infiltration, aromatic oil extraction, and organic solvent recovery. Has advantages such as efficiency and easy operation. The selection of materials for the unit equipment is excellent, and it is widely used in the extraction of volatile oils in industries such as pharmaceuticals, food, and chemicals.

6、 Main technical parameters of traditional Chinese medicine extraction tank

	0.5	1.0	2.0	3.0	6.0
Full volume (L)	500	1200	2500	1200	1200
Design pressure inside the tank (MPa)	0.09
Design pressure inside the jacket (MPa)	0.3
Allowable vacuum degree inside the tank (MPa)	60
Compressed air pressure (MPa)	0.6-0.7
Diameter of inclined door (mm)	300	300	400	300	300
Heating area (M2)	2.4	3.1	4.2	3.1	3.1
Condensation area (M2)	3	5	5	5	5
Cooling area (M2)	1	1	1	1	1
Filter area (M2)	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25
Equipment weight (kg)	1000	1500	1800	1500	1500
Dimensions (mm)	φ1400×φ2300	φ1700×φ2900	φ1800×φ3700	φ1700×φ2900	φ1700×φ2900
Energy consumption (kg/h)	200	245	325	245

7、 Extraction tank, dynamic multifunctional extraction tank, traditional Chinese medicine extraction tank