Aerosol Distillation for Low-Temperature Volatile Molecule Extraction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing natural product extraction methods rely on chemicals with health risks and labor issues, leading to commoditization and tight profit margins, and new regulations threaten economically-viable production.
Innovation Solution
A method to convert solid or liquid compositions into aerosols for distillation at temperatures below the molecules' boiling points, using a solvent like ethanol to extract volatile molecules from mute plants and other compositions with high surface-area-to-volume ratios, employing a sweep gas to bombard and separate molecules from impurities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional chemical extraction methods are used, then extraction efficiency is achieved, but health risks and environmental harm increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical state parameter of the extractant from liquid solvent to aerosol (suspended liquid particles in gas), enabling extraction at ambient temperatures without using harmful chemical solvents. The aerosolized water or alternative solvents provide extraction capability while eliminating the health and environmental risks associated with conventional organic solvents.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes phase transition by converting liquid solvent into aerosol form (liquid particles suspended in gas phase). This phase change enables the extractant to penetrate plant material more effectively while allowing extraction to occur at lower temperatures, avoiding the need for harmful chemicals and high-energy processes.
2Speed
If high temperatures are used for distillation, then separation speed increases, but energy consumption and molecular degradation increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs phase transition of the aerosolized extractant from liquid to vapor and back to liquid during the extraction and distillation process. This phase change mechanism enables rapid separation at ambient temperatures by exploiting the vapor-liquid equilibrium, achieving fast separation speeds without requiring high temperatures and thus minimizing energy consumption.
3Productivity
If conventional solvents are used for extraction, then extraction capability is achieved, but profit margins decrease due to regulation costs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical form of the extractant to aerosol, which enables extraction to be performed at ambient temperatures using water or benign solvents instead of regulated chemical solvents. This eliminates the need for expensive regulatory compliance and disposal infrastructure, thereby maintaining extraction capability while improving profit margins by removing the burden of solvent-related regulations.
4Use of energy by moving object
If ambient temperatures are used for extraction, then energy consumption decreases, but extraction rate for mute plants is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent overcomes the limitation of slow extraction at ambient temperatures by aerosolizing the extractant. The phase transition to aerosol form dramatically increases the surface area and dispersal of the extractant throughout the plant material, enabling rapid mass transfer and high extraction rates even at ambient temperatures without requiring energy-intensive heating.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables efficient and safe extraction of volatile molecules at ambient temperatures, increasing profit margins and avoiding disfavored solvents, with high mass transfer rates and selective separation of molecules from impurities.
Implementation Method 1
the pressure of the gas phase is greater than the vapor pressure of the molecule, the boiling point of the molecule is greater than the temperature of the gas phase, and either the impurity lacks a vapor pressure or the impurity has a vapor pressure at the temperature that is less than the vapor pressure of the molecule at the temperature
Implementation Method 2
condensing the vaporized molecule into a condensed molecule
Implementation Method 3
converting a liquid or solid into an aerosol allows the distillation of molecules from the aerosol in seconds at temperatures that are significantly less than the boiling points of the molecules
Data Source
AI summary
Various aspects of this disclosure relate to the discovery that converting a solid or a liquid into an aerosol allows the distillation of molecules from the aerosol in seconds at temperatures that are significantly less than the boiling points of the molecules. Various aspects of this disclosure relate to the discovery that mute plants can be extracted at both ambient temperatures and temperatures significantly less than the boiling points of the volatile molecules of the mute plants by capturing the volatile molecules in a solvent such as ethanol.