Multi-Step Propolis Extraction Using Sequential Solvents
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current propolis extraction methods often result in products with mixed solvents or impurities, limiting their effectiveness and application in hygiene, care, and food products, as they do not fully retain the active components or provide 100% purity.
Innovation Solution
A multi-step extraction process using pure organic solvents, specifically water, alcohol, and oil, over an extended period, to obtain aqueous, alcoholic, and oily extracts with enhanced antibacterial, antiseptic, and antioxidant properties, ensuring compatibility and purity for various applications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If single-step or two-step extraction methods are used, then extraction time is reduced, but the purity and completeness of active components in the extract is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The extraction process is divided into multiple sequential steps, each using a different solvent (water, then alcohol, then oil) to selectively extract different components of propolis. This segmentation allows each solvent to target specific compounds, ensuring comprehensive extraction of all active components while maintaining their purity and preventing contamination from mixed solvents.
2Productivity
If multiple solvents are mixed in extraction, then extraction efficiency is improved, but the purity of the final extract is reduced due to solvent residues
Solution Approach 1:
Water serves as an intermediary solvent in the extraction sequence. It is used first to extract water-soluble components, then alcohol extracts alcohol-soluble components, and finally oil extracts oil-soluble components. Each solvent acts as an intermediary that selectively binds to specific compounds, allowing for efficient extraction while maintaining purity because each extract is processed separately without mixing solvents.
3Loss of time
If extraction is performed quickly, then time consumption is reduced, but the completeness of active component retention is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The extraction process continues sequentially through multiple stages without interruption, with each stage completing fully before the next begins. The water extraction completes all water-soluble component extraction, then alcohol extraction completes all alcohol-soluble component extraction, and finally oil extraction completes all oil-soluble component extraction. This continuous sequential action ensures no active components are left behind while maintaining efficiency through optimized timing of each stage.
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
The process yields extracts that are 100% pure and retain all active components, allowing for versatile applications in hygiene, care, and food products, demonstrating improved efficacy and safety due to the preservation of propolis' active ingredients and isotonic properties.
Implementation Method 1
a first aqueous extraction step, lasting around 30 days at a temperature below 0 °C, with pure water... carried out on a batch of crude propolis in order to obtain a first aqueous extract
Implementation Method 2
a second extraction step with pure alcohol, said second alcoholic extraction being carried out on filtration residues obtained at the end of said first aqueous extraction step, by maceration and discontinuous manual stirring... for a period of time of at least 15 days
Implementation Method 3
a third extraction step with pure oil, said third oily extraction being carried out on filtration residues obtained at the end of said second alcoholic extraction step, by macerating them in oil for at least one week
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a propolis treatment method, consisting in carrying out at least a first propolis extraction on a batch of raw propolis with a first pure solvent so as to obtain a first extract having first properties. The method may comprise at least a second extraction carried out using a second pure solvent differing in nature from the first, the extraction with the second solvent being carried out on the filtration residues obtained after the extraction carried out with the first solvent, so as to recover and render useable all of the components of the propolis using, furthermore, only biological solvents; and finally the method may include a third extraction, after the second, carried out on the filtration residues obtained after this second extraction, with a third pure solvent different from the other two, the first solvent therefore being water, the second being alcohol and the third being oil. The invention applies to the manufacture of propolis extracts for use in the manufacture of hygiene, care and cosmetic products, and for the manufacture of food products and food supplements.