5. Principle 5: reduce the number of unit operations

5.1 Context

With today's economic and environmental concerns, the plant extraction industry needs to develop processes that are efficient in terms of extraction yields, reduced environmental impact, operator safety and space utilization. Typically, a complete extraction process consists of the following stages:

(1) pre-treatment of plant raw material by drying and grinding to increase contact surface and solvent penetration;

(2) solid-liquid extraction with a suitable solvent ;

(3) solid-liquid separation by filtration or centrifugation;

(4) solvent removal and recycling to eliminate any residual solvent in the final extract or residue.

Such a process requires long...