Plant extract products can largely be seen as modern interpretations of the essence of Chinese herbal medicine, they carry the wisdom of traditional Chinese medicine and modern technology fusion. Consumers have become particularly concerned about the safety of product ingredients currently, so products containing plant extracts are gradually becoming the mainstream choice.
As a mature plant extraction manufacturers with more than 10 years in China, today we introduce you some common plant extract extraction methods.
Solvent Extraction method
Solvent extraction method is a commonly used method for extracting chemical components of natural plants. Its basic principle is to use the solvent to dissolve different components of medicinal materials, and to dissolve the active components from the tissue of medicinal materials through diffusion and penetration. When the solvent is added to properly crushed medicinal materials, the solvent enters into the cells through the cell wall and dissolves the soluble components. When the concentration is poor, the solute in the cells continues to diffuse, while the solvent continues to enter the tissues and cells of the medicinal materials. After repeated extraction, the required components are nearly completely dissolved.
Water extraction: basically all proportion extracts are water extracted (unless specifically requested products), this way, cheap, safe, no solvent residue. - Sweeteners are water extracts: bulk monk fruit, buy chlorogenic acid
Alcohol extraction: ethanol, methanol extraction, methanol is toxic, all are mostly ethanol extraction. Ethanol extraction, is to use low content of ethanol first, slowly use higher content of ethanol extraction. Less energy consumption, less impurities. Basically, 70% of the purity of ethanol is below, 60% is more used, ethanol is volatile, and the solvent residue is relatively small.
For Example: rosmarinic acid powder; Bulk Myricetin powder, dihydromyricetin DHM powder; Amygdalin powder (although amygdalin is soluble in water, it breaks down easily in high temperature water)
Except the water and ethanol, commonly used inorganic solvents also have dilute acid, dilute alkali; Organic solvents are, ether, chloroform, acetone, petroleum ether and so on. Solvent extraction method can be used to extract solid, liquid and semi-fluid, according to the different extraction objects can be divided into extraction method and extraction method.
This method is suitable for most plants, especially those with more fat-soluble components
Macroporous Resin Adsorption Technology
Macroporous resin adsorption technology is a new process developed in the 1970s, in simple saying, is the traditional Chinese medicine decoction liquid through macroporous resin, adsorption of the active components, and then elution recovery, a purification method to remove impurities.
Macroporous resin adsorption technology is according to the different composition of the liquid medicine, the extracted substances are different, and different types of resins are selected. Adsorption resin, especially the composition of non-polar adsorption resin in the adsorption liquid, mainly the physical structure (such as specific surface, pore size, etc.) plays a role, such as for stevia extraction, commonly used AB-8 type, and traditional Chinese medicine extraction and purification of antibiotics commonly used X-5 type, different resins have different targeting.
The basic procedure of its operation is:
extract of Chinese medicine → resin adsorbing active ingredients through macroporous resin → eluent → recovered solution → pharmaceutical solution → drying → semi-finished product.
This technology has been widely used in the development of new Chinese medicine and the production of proprietary Chinese medicine. Mainly used in separation and purification processes.
Enzymatic hydrolysis
Enzymes are specific and efficient catalysts, for example cellulase powder can catalyze the decomposition of cellulose, protease can catalyze the decomposition of proteins. Enzymolysis is the use of enzymes to decompose the object of the enzyme.
The core of enzymolysis is to use active enzymes to hydrolyze certain substances, which has been widely used in biological experiments.
Compared with chemical methods, enzymatic hydrolysis has higher selectivity and mild reaction conditions. Enzymatic hydrolysis is usually carried out under mild conditions to avoid the influence of extreme conditions such as high temperature, strong acid and alkali on the experimental results, so it is more commonly used in biological experiments.
Microbial fermentation
Microbial fermentation refers to the process of using microorganisms to transform raw materials into products needed by human beings through specific metabolic pathways under appropriate conditions. The production level of microbial fermentation mainly depends on the genetic characteristics and culture conditions of the strains themselves.
Microbial fermentation can be divided into the following three categories according to the mode of operation:
Intermittent fermentation: also known as batch fermentation, nutrients and strains are added at a time for culture until the end of release.
Continuous fermentation: Add fresh media to the fermenter at a certain speed, while flowing out the culture liquid at the same speed, so that the liquid amount in the fermenter is maintained constant, and the microorganisms grow in a stable state.
Streaming fermentation: between batch fermentation and continuous fermentation, some of the advantages of both are provided by adding certain materials to the culture system in a certain way.
Microbial fermentation technology is widely used in the following fields:
Food industry: used in the production of yogurt, beer, soy sauce and other fermented food.
Pharmaceutical industry: used in the production of antibiotics, vitamins, enzyme preparations, etc.
Chemical industry: used for the production of organic acids, solvents, spices and other chemicals.
Energy sector: for the production of biofuels.
These are some of the most common plant extraction methods, hope it's help for you. Just contact us freely if you are interested in the extraction process of which plant extract ingredients.
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