Solvent recovery from stevia extracts

When extracting plant substances, large volumes of extraction solution are produced. If the end product is to be suitable for consumption later on, ethanol is often the solvent of choice. This is also the case in the production of the natural sweetener stevia. Ethanol is used to extract the desired stevioglycosides from the plant material, which then has to be separated again on the rotary evaporator.

One stevia producer from Thailand* uses three large-scale Heidolph rotary evaporators for this purpose. Two Laborota 20 (predecessor of Hei-VAP Industrial) are operated manually to process volumes of up to 40 liters. In addition, a Distimatic Industrial Platinum 7 Package is used to automatically process extract volumes of up to 50 liters per day. The system operates at a heating bath temperature of 50°C, a cooling temperature of 10°C, and within a range of 150–200 mbar.

Distimatic Industrial Platinum 7 Package

• High performance glassware for maximum throughput
• FDA conformity of all media-contacting materials allows foodstuffs to be processed
• Extraction solvents can be reused multiple times thanks to very good separation performance

* Anonymized on customer request