Glass Reactors Are Used in Chemical Process ¨C Extraction
In recent years, with development of technology, more and more products of plant extract have appeared on the market that contributes more to human health and beauty, for example: plant essential oil, etc. In the manufacture of these plant extracts, the chemical process ¨C extraction is a must. In this article, I will talk about a chemical device ¨C glass reactors which are used in the process of extraction.
Glass reactor is a type of chemical reaction that always can be used to realize many chemical processes. On today¡¯s market, this reactor always is made from high quality borosilicate glass and has stainless steel structure; this is always appeared to good physical and chemical properties.
In the first paragraph, we have mentioned that glass reactor is used in the process of extraction which is a chemistry is a separation process consisting in the separation of a substance from a matrix. Extraction includes solid phase extraction and liquid- liquid extraction; and common extractants are arranged from ethyl acetate to water in increasing order of polarity. Extraction is widely used in chemical industry and lab study; and typical lab extractions are of organic compounds out of an aqueous phase and into an organic phase.
With increasing technology recently, the extraction also have appeared some modern variations, such as perstraction, instant controlled pressure drop extraction, microwave ¨C assisted extraction, heat reflux extraction, ultrasonic extraction and supercritical carbon dioxide extraction, etc. These extractions are very useful in our daily life, for example: boiling tea leaves in water extracts the caffeine, theobromine and tannins out of the leaves and into the water.
In the last paragraph, we have mentioned that supercritical carbon dioxide extraction is a modern variation, well what is supercritical carbon dioxide. Next, let us talk about this issue. For many of us, we have familiar with carbon dioxide which usually behaves as a gas in air at standard temperature and pressure or as a solid called dry ice when frozen. And a supercritical carbon dioxide is a fluid state of carbon dioxide where it is held at or above its critical temperature and critical pressure and it is becoming an important commercial and industrial solvent because its role in chemical extraction in addition to its low toxicity and environmental impact.
As mention earlier, essential oil is now very popular on the market due to its health benefits, supercritical carbon dioxide just is used as the extraction solvent for creation of essential oils as well as herbal distillates. At the same time, supercritical carbon dioxide is used as extraction solvent in labs, for example: determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soil and solid wastes, determination of hydrocarbon compounds in water, and so on. More importantly, supercritical carbon dioxide is environment ¨C friendly; and it is always used as a chemical reagent due to it is low cost substitutes for rigid thermoplastic and fired ceramic. from www.toption-china.com
In conclusion, glass reactor also can be used other chemical process like stirring, mixing, and dissolution.
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