CAVITATION TECHNOLOGY FOR INTENSIFICATION OF PLANT RAW MATERIALS EXTRACTION

Abstract

Traditional technologies and equipment for extraction do not meet the needs of industrial production in the constant increase in the volume of finished products due to the low efficiency of extraction of target components, their high energy consumption and duration. This makes it relevant to search for modern, more effective technologies and equipment, the use of which will significantly increase overall production productivity, reduce overall specific energy consumption, improve the quality of the finished products and safety of processes for the environment. The paper analyzes and generalizes methods for intensifying extraction processes from plant materials. The most effective ways to intensify hydrodynamic processes include methods based on cavitation phenomena.  Transformation and redistribution of energy, which occur during the formation and collapse of vapor bubbles due to the creation of a high difference in pressure, temperature, and potential, contribute to a significant increase in the efficiency of dynamic effects on complex heterogeneous systems during extraction. Cavitation technologies ensure ecological purity and safety of the process, make it possible to accelerate mass transfer processes, activate the extractant, obtain a high yield of biologically active substances (BAS) and maintain their properties. Acoustic and hydrodynamic cavitation are most commonly used. Modern research is conducted in search of new solutions to optimize technologies, as well as improvement of cavitation equipment. Examples of hydrodynamic cavitation devices of static and dynamic types are cylindrical and disk rotor-pulsation devices, valve-type high-pressure homogenizers, pulsating dispersers, centrifugal pumps and Venturi tubes. They are used to intensify the processes at the stages of preparation of plant raw materials, activation of the extractant, as well as the extraction itself. Static-type cavitation devices based on the Venturi tube have a number of advantages in terms of design, technological and economic solution.