As the global demand for natural, healthy and green products continues to grow, plant extracts are widely used in traditional Chinese medicine, health foods, functional beverages, cosmetics, daily chemical products and other fields, and the market scale is rapidly expanding. Especially in the development of natural antioxidants, polyphenols, saponins, flavonoids, and essential oils, plant extracts have become the first choice for raw materials for high-end consumer products due to their “pure natural, low toxicity” characteristics. However, the plant extraction process is not “picking and getting”. The mixed solution after extraction often presents high viscosity and turbidity, and carries a large number of fine impurities, plant fiber residues or unsettled active particles. If it cannot be effectively separated and clarified, it will not only affect the purity, stability and taste of the product, but also have a negative impact on subsequent concentration, drying and other processes, and ultimately reduce the added value of the product.
Traditional methods such as sedimentation, filter cloth filtration, plate and frame filter press, centrifugal sedimentation, etc. are inefficient, poor in precision, easy to clog, and need to frequently replace consumables when dealing with these complex systems. It is difficult to adapt to the needs of industrial scale and high-end development. In this context, tubular centrifuges, with their ultra-high centrifugal force, excellent separation accuracy, and efficient and stable operation advantages, have become key equipment for the plant extraction industry to move towards “high-quality development”, promoting technological upgrades and product advancements in the entire industrial chain.
Separation difficulties and technical bottlenecks in plant extraction
1. The mixed liquid is complex and traditional methods are incapable of meeting the requirements
Plant extracts usually contain:
Plant residues, insoluble solids;
Micron or submicron fine particles;
Essential oil hydrophobic components;
High viscosity components containing mucilage or colloid;
Various types of sugars, polyphenols, and flavonoids water-soluble active substances.
These components form a complex solid-liquid or liquid-liquid-solid three-phase mixed system with poor fluidity and strong emulsification. The ordinary sedimentation method is time-consuming, the filter cloth method frequently replaces consumables, and the separation effect is unstable.
2. The demand for precision continues to increase
As the market has higher and higher requirements for product purity, stability, taste, color, etc., the presence of impurities in plant extracts has gradually become a “shortcoming” that affects quality. Traditional separation methods are difficult to effectively remove micron-level impurities and can no longer meet the quality standards of high-end products.
Advantages of tubular centrifuge – efficient separation
1. Working principle: high separation factor brought by high speed
The tubular centrifuge consists of a slender drum (cylinder), usually with a diameter of 60-150mm and a length of about 800-1200mm. At a speed of up to 16000-25000 rpm, a centrifugal force of up to 15000-21000×g is formed.
The material enters the drum from the bottom, and the solid or emulsified particles with higher density are quickly thrown to the inner wall of the cylinder for deposition, while the clear liquid with lower density rises along the central axis to the top liquid collector for discharge, thus achieving fast, accurate and efficient solid-liquid or liquid-liquid-solid separation.
2. Main advantages
Ultra-high centrifugal force: suitable for separating suspended matter below 1 micron, with separation accuracy far superior to plate and frame, horizontal screw or disc centrifuge equipment.
Complete separation, high clarity of clear liquid: the NTU value of the effluent can be lower than 1, meeting the stringent requirements of high-end plant extracts for color and transparency.
Continuous feeding and intermittent slag removal: suitable for long-term stable operation, with daily processing capacity ranging from 50L/h to 2000L/h.
Typical application scenarios and successful cases
1. Purification of Danshen extract
Tanshinone and salvianolic acid are the two major active ingredients of Danshen. After alcohol dissolution, they form a reddish-brown high-viscosity liquid, which contains a large amount of plant cell fragments and impurities and is very easy to clog the filter.
After introducing our GQ high-speed tubular centrifuge:
The solid-liquid separation efficiency is increased by 2.5 times;
The product color changes from dark red to clear reddish brown, and the purity is improved;
The concentration process is shortened by 30%, and the production capacity is increased by 40%;
Automatic loading and continuous liquid discharge are realized, which greatly saves labor.
2. Emulsion separation in curcumin extraction process
After alcohol extraction, curcumin forms an emulsion containing tiny oil droplets and water-soluble impurities. Traditional sedimentation for 24 hours still cannot separate them.
Using GF tubular centrifuge:
Fast oil-water separation is achieved, and the oil phase recovery rate is increased to 93%;
The color of the oil phase changes from milky white to golden yellow, which meets the export standards;
The by-product water phase is further used to extract turmeric polysaccharides to improve the comprehensive utilization rate.
As a key link in the industrial chain from field to workshop, plant extraction will play a more important role in functional foods, precision medicine, personalized daily chemicals and other fields in the future. In order to leap from a raw material processor to a manufacturer of high value-added products, it is necessary to break through the technical bottleneck of “difficult extraction, separation and purification”. As a tool for deep separation, the tubular centrifuge not only improves the purity and stability of the product, but also brings cost optimization and quality upgrade. It is an important equipment for every plant extraction company to move towards intelligent manufacturing, green development and brand internationalization.
If you are troubled by the problem of extraction clarification, you might as well try this “rotating precision separator”. We look forward to becoming your partner on the road to technological upgrading and moving towards a new era of natural products with you.
