As the natural active substance extraction industry continues to grow, tea polyphenols and anthocyanins, as plant-derived functional ingredients, are widely used in health products, functional beverages, cosmetics and medicines for their excellent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and anti-aging effects. With the improvement of people’s health awareness, the market for products containing these natural active substances is expanding rapidly. However, how to extract high-purity tea polyphenols and anthocyanins from raw materials plants efficiently, stably and at low cost has always been the core technology of the industry.
Disc centrifuge, as an efficient and continuous separation equipment, plays an increasingly important role in the extraction process of tea polyphenols and anthocyanins with its advantages of large processing capacity, high separation accuracy and high degree of automation, gradually replacing traditional inefficient methods such as sedimentation and filtration, and becoming one of the important equipment for upgrading modern extraction processes.
Industrial background of tea polyphenols and anthocyanin extraction
Overview of tea polyphenols
Tea polyphenols are a class of phenolic compounds found in tea, mainly including catechins (such as EGCG, ECG, etc.), flavonoids, anthocyanins, etc. Its main functions include:
Antioxidant effect: scavenging free radicals and delaying aging;
Antibacterial and antibacterial: significant broad-spectrum antibacterial effect;
Health effects such as lowering blood lipids and anti-tumor.
The extraction of tea polyphenols mostly uses green tea as raw material, and the extraction process involves multiple links such as extraction, coarse filtration, separation and purification.
Overview of anthocyanins
Anthocyanins are a water-soluble pigment widely found in plants such as purple cabbage, grape skin, blueberry, and purple sweet potato. It has significant:
Natural pigment function: safe and edible;
Biological activity: protecting eyesight, anti-oxidation, improving microcirculation;
Widely used: food additives, health products, natural medicines, etc.
Anthocyanins are mostly extracted using an ethanol-water system. The extract contains a large amount of impurities, proteins, and cell fragments, which require high-efficiency separation technology to purify.
Working principle and technical features of disc centrifuge
Working principle
Disc centrifuge is a high-speed rotating separation equipment. It generates a strong centrifugal force field through high-speed rotation, so that components with different densities are quickly layered inside the disc group:
Solid particles are deposited in the gap between the discs;
The liquid phase is discharged upward along the disc flow channel;
The sediment can be discharged regularly through the automatic slag discharge system.
The process is fully enclosed and runs continuously, greatly reducing the risk of oxidation and contamination.
Technical advantages
High speed and high efficiency: the speed is as high as 5000~8000 rpm, far exceeding gravity sedimentation and ordinary filtration;
High separation accuracy: fine particles with a particle size as low as 0.5 microns can be removed;
Large processing capacity: suitable for continuous large-scale industrial production;
Fully enclosed structure: prevent oxidation and avoid pollution;
Automatic slag discharge function: intermittent or continuous slag discharge can be achieved to improve operation stability;
Adaptable CIP cleaning system: convenient cleaning, in line with GMP and food-grade production requirements.
Application of disc centrifuge in anthocyanin extraction
Process characteristics of anthocyanin
During the extraction process of anthocyanin, the solution contains more:
Pectin, polysaccharides;
Plant tissue fragments;
Protein and natural colloids.
Because anthocyanin is very easy to oxidize, higher requirements are placed on the airtightness and short-time operation of the separation equipment.
Application advantages
The role of disc centrifuge in anthocyanin process:
Quickly remove impurities to avoid pigment degradation;
Ensure high-purity stock solution enters the refining section;
Low-temperature operation support to retain biological activity;
Avoid excessive pigment residues in traditional filter presses and improve the extraction rate.
By accurately setting the feed rate, liquid outlet pressure and slag discharge frequency, the centrifuge can flexibly adapt to the physical property changes of extracts of different varieties (blueberries, mulberries, purple cabbage, etc.).
In the extraction process of natural active substances such as tea polyphenols and anthocyanins, the separation link is crucial and directly affects the purity, stability and economic benefits of the final product. As an efficient, stable and energy-saving separation equipment, disc centrifuge is becoming the core equipment in modern plant extraction technology. For companies that want to improve product quality, optimize process flow and control production costs, choosing a suitable disc centrifuge is not only an equipment investment, but also an upgrade of competitiveness.
As a professional centrifuge manufacturer in China, we are committed to providing efficient, stable and reliable separation solutions for natural resource extraction companies such as tea, blueberries, mulberries, and purple cabbage, helping customers to be at the forefront of the field of natural active substance extraction. If you want to know more about the parameter selection, model recommendation and application support of disc centrifuge in the extraction process, please feel free to contact us, we will tailor the most suitable solution for you.
