Steam distillation extraction technology

Steam distillation is a commonly used extraction process, which is mainly used to extract spices, essential oils and other substances from plant or animal raw materials. The relevant explanations are as follows:

1. Raw material preparation: select suitable plant or animal raw materials and clean them. For plant raw materials, it is necessary to cut them into pieces or put them into a pulverizer to facilitate the penetration of water vapor. Soaking: Soak the raw materials in water for a period of time to facilitate the penetration of water vapor and extract effective components. The soaking time can be determined according to the properties of raw materials and substances to be extracted.

2. Distillation: put the soaked raw materials into distillation equipment, add a proper amount of water, and then heat. After water is boiled, water vapor will penetrate into the raw materials and bring out effective components. At this time, the water vapor can be converted into liquid by the condenser and collected in the receiver. Separation: In the receiver, liquid containing essential oil or perfume can be obtained.

3. Drying: For some substances, further drying is needed to remove moisture and other impurities. The drying method can be selected according to the substance and properties to be extracted, such as natural air drying, oven drying or vacuum drying. Packaging: packaging the extracted substances for transportation and sale. Packaging materials can be glass bottles, plastic bottles or aluminum foil bags.

The main purpose of steam distillation

1. Separation of mixture: Steam distillation can separate different components in the mixture for further extraction or purification. By separating the components in the mixture, the experimental process or industrial production process can be better controlled. Extraction of effective components: effective components, such as spices and essential oils, can be extracted from plant or animal raw materials by steam distillation.

2. Remove unnecessary components: In some experiments or industrial production processes, it is necessary to remove unnecessary components from the mixture. Steam distillation can be used to remove some components, such as solvents, low-boiling impurities and so on, in order to get more pure substances. Recovering useful substances: Steam distillation can be used to recover some useful substances, such as recovering organic solvents from waste liquid.

3. Meet the needs of experiment or industrial production: steam distillation can be used to meet the needs of experiment or industrial production. For example, in chemical experiments, steam distillation can be used to separate and purify different components in the mixture; In pharmaceutical industry, effective components can be extracted from plant raw materials by steam distillation to meet the needs of drug production.