Title of Invention

"A SYSTEM FOR EXTRACTION OF ESSENTIAL OIL FROM PLANTS/PARTS THEREOF BEARING ESSENTIAL OIL"

Abstract

A system for extraction of essential oil from plants/ parts thereof bearing essential oil. The system is adapted for extraction of oil from fresh betel leaf as well as dried, decayed, dechlorophylled and stale leaves. The system further prevents loss of extracted oil due to backflow to the distillation flask and escape of vapour. The system for extraction of essential oil from plants/ parts thereof bearing essential oil comprises means for distillation, means for conducting vapour therefrom, condenser adapted to condense the water and oil vapour; means adapted to form distinct oil layer,; a means for holding uncondensed vapours, a feed back means for recycling of condensed water baffling the oil droplets and a narrow means for oil collection.

Full Text

FIELD OF INVENTION The present invention relates to a system for extraction of essential oil from plants/ parts thereof bearing essential oil. More particularly the system is adapted for extraction of oil from fresh betel leaf as well as dried, decayed, dechlorophylled and stale leaves. The system of the present invention is adapted to extract oil at a faster rate, without forming emulsion. The system further prevents loss of extracted oil due to backflow to the distillation flask and escape of vapour, system can also be used to extract essential oil from all other essential oil - yielding crops like rose, mint, basil, Keora and the like. BACKGROUND AND PRIOR ART India is the largest producer of betel leaf in the world producing a crop of about 9000 million every year.. A survey revealed that on an average about 10 % of the gross production of betel leaf goes waste every year due to improper production, packaging and marketing. Except the peak consumption/demand period extending over a few months around December and January, a substantial amount of betel leaves remain unsold throughout the year. The betel leaf being a highly perishable commodity is always subject to wastage by quick spoilage, which may cause a loss of even 900 million rupees in a year to the Nation. Not only this, particularly in the rainy season a large portion of the leaves is also sold at a throw away price. Accordingly, attempts were initiated to extract essential oil from such unsold or stranded betel leaves. The essential oil, which is present in the betel leaf, imparts medicinal aromatic, stimulant, tonic, and various other properties in the leaves. Therefore, the leaves of betel vine are traditionally known to be useful for treating cold cough, fever, mastitis, furuncle, abscess, throat affection, acidity, and rheumatism, leucorrhoea, skin affection, constipation, conjunctivitis etc. The betel leaves are traditionally used as mouth freshener, masticant, mild stimulant, appetizer, digestive and nerve tonic. Moreover, this oil has a promising future in the field of skin emollient, tooth paste, tooth powder, pan masala, perfumes, room freshener, de-odorant, soap, face cream cold drink, chocolate, innocence sticks etc. There are many plant species which produce essential oil through their leaves, roots, barks, 2 woods, flowers, fruits seeds etc. Such oils can be grossly classified into two categories namely, i) Heavier than water and ii) Lighter than water, which can be extracted very easily by the simple method of hydro-distillation using the Clevenger apparatus (Fig. 1 ). The heavier oils are deposited at the bottom of water column in the receiver whereas the lighter i oils are deposited at the top/surface of the water column in the receiver. However, the essential oil of betel leaf is neither lighter not heavier than water rather its density is very close to water. Therefore, the droplets of betel leaf oil do not accumulate easily at one point (on top or bottom of the water column) like the essential oil of other crops, rather the droplets mostly remain suspended throughout the water column in the receiver and because of such behaviour, the oil droplets go back to the distillation flask through the feed back tube along with the recycled water. Therefore, there is no substantial collection of oil in the receiver. As such, extraction of essential oil from betel leaf with the help of Clevenger apparatus is very difficult and inefficient. Not only this, there are a few more drawbacks in the Clevenger apparatu^ which makes it unfit for extraction of essential oil from betel leaf. The said drawbacks are: 1. Slow extraction process. It requires over 3 hours time for completion of oil extraction process from a single batch of betel leaf. 2. The glass made condenser of the Clevenger apparatus does not perform condensation efficiently since glass is a bad conductor of heat. 3. Due to the self-stirring effect of the falling oil droplets, a milky emulsion is produced inside the receiver. This emulsion (oil in water) goes back to the distillation flask through the feed back tube. Thus, the oil recovery is reduced particularly when rapid1 extraction is attempted. 4. The wide diameter (> 1 cm) of receiver tube of the Clevenger apparatus helps in, breaking down the oil layer floating on the water surface in the receiver. As a result numerous tiny droplets are formed at different depths of water owing to near-water ii density of the oil. These droplets go back to the distillation flask through the feed back tube and thus, the oil recovery is reduced. 5. Straight feed back tube (without any controlling devices) reduces oil recovery since : numerous tiny oil droplets can easily go back to the distillation flask through the it straight feed back tube. 6. Some amount of uncondensed oil vapour escapes through the vent of the apparatus and thus, reduce oil recovery due to lack of proper condensation and vapour trapping unit. 3 OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION The basic objective of the present invention is to provide a system for extraction of essential oil from plants/ parts thereof, which would be simple, rapid, efficient, and at the same time cost effective. i Another object of the present invention is directed to provide a system for extraction of essential oil from plants/ parts thereof such as betel leaf, which would obviate the disadvantages of the known Clevenger apparatus as mentioned previously. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a system for " increasing recovery" of essential oil from plants/ parts thereof such as betel leaf compared to extraction with the Clevenger apparatus. A further object of the present invention is to provide a system for extraction of essential oil from plants/ parts thereof such as betel leaf such that the recycling of condensed oil droplets from the feed back tube is obstructed. Another object of the present invention is to provide a system for extraction of essential oil from plants/ parts thereof such as betel leaf such that the kinetic energy of the droplets falling from the metallic condenser is eliminated. Another object of the present invention is to provide a system for extraction of essential oil from plants/ parts thereof such as betel leaf with which How of essential oil droplets in the feed back tube along with the recycling water is eliminated or minimized taking advantage of gravitational pull. Yet further object of the present invention is directed to provide a system for extraction of essential oil from betel leaf with which proper formation and retention of a separate and distinct oil layer on water surface inside the receiver tube may be achieved. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Thus according to the main aspect of the present invention there is provided a system for extraction of essential oil from plants/ parts thereof bearing essential oil comprising, 4 i. means for distillation; ii. means for conducting vapour therefrom; iii. condenser adapted to condense the water and oil vapour fro the said vapour conducting means; tv. means adapted to form distinct oil layer; v. means for holding uncondensed vapour; vi. feed back means for recycling of condensed water baffling the oil droplets; vii. narrow means for oil collection. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The system of the present invention is particularly suited for extraction of oil from betel leaf. The system of present invention further comprises a delivery tube one end of which is connected to the said means for holding uncondensed vapours whereas the other end is sunk in cold water kept in a beaker adapted for trapping uncondensed vapours. The system comprises means for distillation which is an electrical heating mantle with a regulator, a round bottom flask/distillation flask. The means for vapour conduction is a vapour conducting tube attached to the said flask on one end and the condenser means at the other. The condenser is metallic preferably silver and housed in a glass casing with inlet and outlet connections for entry and exit of cold water. The means adapted to form distinct oil layer is a curved unit attached to the lower end of the metallic condenser, which is housed in a bulb for holding uncondensed vapours. There is an additional delivery tube for uncondensed vaspours one end of which is connected to the vent for escaping vapours made on the side wall of the said bulb while the other end is submerged into cold water kept in a beaker and a zigzag feed back tube with water flow controlling device. The details of the system of the invention illustrated with reference to non limiting accompanying drawings: Brief description of Accompanying Drawings: Figure 1 Schematic view of the existing Clevcnger apparatus Figure 2 Schematic view of the Clevenger apparatus according to present invention Figure 3 Flow chart indicating extraction by the system of present invention. 5 Detailed Description of the Accompanying Drawings Figure 1 shows the schematic view of existing Clevenger apparatus. The Heating mantle (not shown) with the distillation flask (1) is used for distillation. The vapour conducting tube (2) carries the vapour of oil and water to the condenser (3). The condenser is provided with inlet (4) and outlet (5) for water to keep the temperature cool. The lower end of the condenser (6) is straight and ends in a bulb (7) for holding the vapours. The bulb is provided with a vent (8) and leads to the collecting tube (9) . the collecting tube is provided with a feed back tube (10). The feed back tube is a straight tube connecting the collecting tube with the vapor conducting tube. The collecting tube is further provided with a stop cock (11) for controlling oil delivery. Figure 2 shows the system of the present invention for extraction of betel leaf oil.The electrical heating mantle (not shown) (with maximum energy consumption capacity of 3 KW) with a regulator holds the distillation flask (1) (used for housing the materials to be distilled) in the cavity of the mantle for safe and smooth transfer of heat from the heating coils to the distilling materials. The round bottom flask (1) made of glass holds the materials for distillation i.e. betel leaves and water, which are boiled to give off water vapour as well as vapours of essential oil of betel leaf. This flask is washed thoroughly with chromic acid before every use for proper recovery of essential oil. The vapour conducting tube (2) is also made up of glass, which is wider at the base and then narrows down up wards for proper flow of the vapours. The vapours conducting tube is connected to the round bottom flask at the base and also to the condenser (3) at the top. To prevent heat loss from the vapours conducting tube it is covered with encircling asbestos ropes (not shown) otherwise due to loss of heat/ radiation of heat from the vapour conducting tube to the surrounding atmosphere there would be a cooling effect which would condense the vapours particularly the essential oil vapours in to liquid phase and subsequently oil droplets would be formed which would then drop down back to the distillation flask. This ill process would seriously hamper the oil recovery. Therefore, prevention of heat loss is very important and special care is needed for this to be kept under check. Importantly, in order to 6 achieve a greater efficiency of extraction work condensation process must be quick. Therefore, materials of construction for the condenser has to be a very good conductor of heat and hence, a metallic condenser made of silver is attached to the betel leaf oil extractor. This condenser is provided with adequate surface area for quick and smooth transfer of heat from "vapours inside the condenser" to the cooling agent flowing out side the condenser. Additionally, this condenser is also provided with adequate obstructing means for impeding further movement of vapours in side the condenser so that the vapours could come to intimate contact with the metallic condenser for greater transfer of heat from vapours to the metallic condenser. . The condenser has been manufactured in a particular shape so as to to be adapted to function as obstructing means, i.e. in some places the internal volume is more and in some places it is minimum. This compels the vapours to expand and contract while moving through the condenser with particular shape. This brings the vapours to intimate contact with the internal surface of the condenser and also causes turbulence. This helps in better exchange of heat energy between the hot vapour and the metallic condenser. The resultant effect is better and quicker cooling effect. Such quick condensation not only increase efficiency of cooling cutting down the time required for condensation of vapours but also increase oil recovery by minimizing/ totally eliminating the escape of uncondensed oil vapours passing out through the vent of the bulb holding the uncondensed vapours. To achieve proper formation of oil droplets after condensation of vapours coming out from the * distillation flask through the vapour conducting tube and metallic condenser contributing to formation of distinct and separate oil layer in the receiver, the apparatus is provided with a curved unit (12) at the end of the metallic condenser (3). The said curved unit is made up of glass and housed in the bulb for holding the uncondensed vapours (7). This unit (12) is devised basically to dissipate the kinetic energy of the rapidly falling oil and water droplets from condensation unit to the water surface in the receiver unit. The rapidly falling droplets cause a self-stirring effect and contribute to the formation of undesired emulsion (oil in water) in receiver very easily due to near water density of the oil and its quick miscibility with water. Due to the said self-stirring effect an emulsion is formed instead of a clear and distinct oil layer formation in the receiver tube. This emulsion easily occupy every portion of the receiver tube whereas distinct and separate layer of essential oil if formed, floats only on the top surface of the water column present in the receiver tube. As such, collection of oil is possible when separate and distinct oil layer is formed but it is almost impossible to collect oil when emulsion is formed. This emulsion easily moves through the feed back tube and goes back to the distillation flask and thus, oil recovery is significantly reduced. On the 7 contrary, the floating oil layer does not go back to the distillation flask like the emulsion. To prevent such undesired formation of emulsion, it is necessary to stop the self-stirring effect of the droplets causing such an. effect by the virtue of their being possessing some kinetic energy. This kinetic energy is dissipated by the curved unit by intercepting the falling droplets on its glass surface and then slowly releasing water and oil droplets just on the water surface in the receiver tube. In this way, the undesired emulsification is eliminated and a clear-cut oil layer is formed by the said curved unit. The bulb for holding uncondensed vapours (7) is also made of glass. This is provided in the apparatus to hold uncondensed vapours if any, that may come out of the condensation unit due to various reasons like very rapid flow of vapours, excessive heating of the distillation flask, improper temperature of cooling water etc. The uncondensed vapours when formed in excess of the capacity of the said bulb, passes on through a vent (8) provided on a side wall of the same said bulb. The delivery tube (13) for uncondensed vapours is made up of glass, which conducts the vapours to a beaker containing cold water and releases the vapours therein for further condensation and/ or absorption for increasing the oil recovery. The oil collection tube (9) is also made up 6f glass with a radius of 8 reduces oil recovery. The details of working of the said invention is explained through the process and material flow chart (I;ig. 3 ) The system of present invention is used to carry out extraction of essential oil from betel leaf and that from all other essential oil yielding crops. Thus the betel leaves of about 150 (500g) is rinsed, blotted and the petiole are removed. The leaf blades weighing around 422g are minced to a size of lcm. These along with water is put in the distillation flask. The heating mantle is allowed to heat to a temperature of 100°C to start distillation process. The temperature is regulated so that constant boiling is continued . The vapours generated are passed through conducting tube which are condensed in the condenser. The condensed oil droplets are allowed to pass drop by drop by the curved unit to the collecting tube. Clear, distinct oil layer is formed. About 1 ml essential oils is extracted within 2hours 30 minutes without formation of emulsion. The de oiled leaves arc collected, dried at 60 °Cfor 48 hours. Dried de oiled leaves are obtained. Advantages The present system for extraction of essential oil from betel leaf and other crops which significantly differs from the known Clevenger apparatus (Fig. 1) with respect to i) minimizing/eliminating formation of emulsion (oil in water) which reduces oil recovery); ii) formation of separate and distinct oil layer in the receiver tube; iii) minimizing/eliminating flow of essential oil droplets back to the distillation flask through the zig zag feed back tube , restricting movement of oil droplets towards the distillation flask through the feed back tube by iLs particular geometry, restriction of movement of essential oil droplets back towards the distillation flask taking advantage of gravitational pull, iv) minimizing/eliminating the loss of essential oil and increasing the oil recovery .by incorporation of the side tube with the vent for uncondensed gases and conduction of such gases to a beaker of water to condense the vapors and recover oil. As a result, there is increase in oil recovery and reduction in time and energy consumption by way of the present invention discussed above. 9 We Claim 1. A system for extraction of essential oil from plants/parts thereof bearing essential oil comprising: i) means for distillation; ii) means for conducting vapour therefrom , iii) metallic condenser adapted to condense the water and essential oil vapour iv) means adapted to form distinct oil layer comprising a curved unit attached to the said condenser at the lower end v) a means for holding uncondensed vapour vi) a double bent feed back means for recycling of condensed water baffling the oil droplets vii) a narrow means for oil collection characterized in that the said curved unit capable of intercepting falling droplets in its surface and then slowly releasing the same is at minimum distance from the level of liquid in the means for oil collection. 2. A system as claimed in claim 1 additionally comprising a delivery tube one end of which is connected to the said means for holding uncondensed vapour whereas the other end is sunk in cold water kept in a beaker adapted for trapping uncondensed vapour. 3. A system as claimed in any one of the claims 1 or 2 wherein the said curved unit is housed in a glass bulb for holding uncondensed vapour. 4. A system as claimed in any one of the claims 1 to 3 wherein the said curved unit is adapted to minimize or eliminate the accumulation of kinetic energy in the falling oil droplets and water droplets after condensation. 5. A system as claimed in any one of the claims 1 to 4 wherein the distance between the curved end of the condensation unit and the water surface in the narrow receiver means /said bulb for holding uncondensed vapour kept at minimum by controlling the amount of distillate in the said bulb by manipulating the stop cock/controlling device attached on the zigzag feed back tube 6. A system as claimed in any one of the claims 1 to 5 wherein said curved unit is adapted to minimize/eliminate the formation of emulsion (oil in water) in the receiver means /bulb for holding uncondensed vapour. 10 7 A system as claimed in any one of the claims 1 to 6 wherein said feed back means is a double bent tube connecting said collection means to the vapour conducting means. 8. A system as claimed in any one of the claims 1 to 7 wherein the double bent tube is adapted to selectively recycle water and not oil drpplets. 9. A system as claimed in any one of the claims 1 to 8 wherein said double bent tube is provided with means to control the flow of recycling water. 10. A system as claimed in any one of the claims 1 to 9 wherein the first part of the double bent feed back tube is kept substantially perpendicular. 11. A system as claimed in any one of the claims 1 to 10 wherein the means for distillation is comprises distillation flask or round-bottomed flask and heating mantle. 12. A system as claimed in claim 1 1 wherein the said flask is adapted to house the materials to be distilled. 13. A system as claimed in any one of the claims 1 to 12 wherein the means for conducting vapour from distillation means is a vapor conducting tube. 14. A system as claimed in any one of the claims 1 to 13 wherein said condenser adapted to condense the vapour from vapor conducting tube is metallic and housed in a glass casing with inlet and outlet connections for cold and hot water respectively. 15. A system as claimed in any one of the claims 1 to 14 wherein said narrow mean: tor oil collection comprises a narrow tube provided with regulator means. 16. A system of extraction of essential oil from betel leaf and other relevant crops substantially as herein above described and illustrated with reference to the accompanying illustration. A system for extraction of essential oil from plants/ parts thereof bearing essential oil. The system is adapted for extraction of oil from fresh betel leaf as well as dried, decayed, dechlorophylled and stale leaves. The system further prevents loss of extracted oil due to backflow to the distillation flask and escape of vapour. The system for extraction of essential oil from plants/ parts thereof bearing essential oil comprises means for distillation, means for conducting vapour therefrom, condenser adapted to condense the water and oil vapour; means adapted to form distinct oil layer,; a means for holding uncondensed vapours, a feed back means for recycling of condensed water baffling the oil droplets and a narrow means for oil collection.

Documents:

00272-kol-2004-abstract.pdf

00272-kol-2004-claims.pdf

00272-kol-2004-correspondence.pdf

00272-kol-2004-description(complete).pdf

00272-kol-2004-drawings.pdf

00272-kol-2004-form-1.pdf

00272-kol-2004-form-18.pdf

00272-kol-2004-form-2.pdf

00272-kol-2004-form-3.pdf

00272-kol-2004-letters patent.pdf

00272-kol-2004-p.a.pdf

272-KOL-2004-FORM-27.pdf