CHEM-A-THON 5.

0
CATEGORY-3 SOLVENT EXTRACTION
TEAM VANGAURDS

Team members:
1. Vignesh Bala K (20BCM0082)
2. Gokul Nath K (20BCM0029)
3. Kaushik M (20BCM0035)
4. Dravid V (20BCM0065)
5. Baven SJ (20BCM0144)

Problem Statement:
To design an Efficient Extraction system for extraction of caffeine from coffee powder using
the solvent such as ethanol, dichloromethane. The system should be feasible, sustainable with
solvent recovery wherever possible and automated without human intervention.

Our Solution:
We designed an efficient extraction system using Soxhlet apparatus. The system was efficient
in such a way that it extracted caffeine from coffee powder with help of dichloromethane as
solvent. We also automated the system with help Arduino uno board which helped us to make
our system work in a continuous manner rather than a batch process.

Design:
Materials required:
• Soxhlet Apparatus
• Hot plate
• Arduino board, Bread Board
• Relay module, Jumper Cables, Electrical wires, Resistors
• 9V Battery, Pump
• Two Tanks, Beakers, PVC pipes, Filter Paper
• Coffee Powder (Solute)
• Dichloromethane (Solvent)
• Treated water, Cold water
• M-Seal
• Laptops
• Stool

Working Model:
Process:
We started our process with assembling the Soxhlet apparatus. We connected all the parts of
apparatus and filled the chamber with the coffee powder in a filter paper. We poured the
solvent (dichloromethane) which were given into the apparatus using the top opening in the
condenser chamber in the Soxhlet apparatus.
The water inlet and outlet were given. The water to the inlet of the condenser was taken using
a pump which is connected to the Arduino board. The outlet water was taken out from the top
of condenser in Soxhlet apparatus.
The top of condenser was fitted with a self-made condenser with help of a tank and pipe.
The tank was filled with cold water to condense the upcoming solvent vapours of
dichloromethane.
An external wire was sent through the round bottom flask to measure the amount of caffeine
extracted with help of Arduino board where reference resistance was connected to the bread
board and the unknown resistance corresponding to the caffeine concentration was calculated
and converted into concentration. The calibration of concentration of caffeine to resistance
was taken from research paper.
The mixture was heated at the boiling point of dichloromethane and used to extract the
caffeine using multiple extraction stages. The water to inlet of the condenser was stopped
after extraction time is completed by turning off the pump with help of Arduino board. The
caffeine solution extracted was further heated and sent to the condenser where a little amount
solvent used gets recovered by condensation with help of cold water in the tank and gets
collected in a tank.

Result:
Overall, our process was efficient in terms of caffeine extracted and in terms of solvent
recovery and in terms of automation without human intervention.
The final concentration of caffeine which was achieved was 5.35 mg of caffeine/ml. This is
efficient as it takes more time in batch process to get this concentration and where solvent
recovery is not possible.

Video Links:
Solvent recovery: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17-iWbi2wG8jdHsfeB0k7A-
zs4vb6TFW_/view?usp=sharing