KINETIC MODELLING OF A DESIGNED STEAM DISTILLATION UNIT
FOR EXTRACTING ESSENTIAL OIL OF ILANG-ILANG
Francis M. Almia1*, Dr. Michael E. Loretero2
1Palompon, Leyte, Philippines, 6538
2Talisay City, Cebu, Philippines, 6045
a20102877@usc.edu.ph
ABSTRACT
A simple model of steam distillation unit is to be designed and
constructed as a research instrument considering the oil constituents as
one constituent, linalool, the major component, to describe the mass
transfer on the extraction of ilang-ilang essential oil with yields of 2%
taking 100kg of ilang-ilang flowers to produce 2 liters of essential oil.
The core method of the kinetic modelling is the implementation of
perforated tube as the steam feed outlet inside an insulated still with
evenly spaced filter plates containing evenly masses of ilang-ilang.
Components included on the design is an electrically powered boiler as
the steam generator and a Peltier-cooled HCHE as the steam condenser
with water as cooling medium. Distillations with varying pressure will
be conducted to determine kinetic model of ilang-ilang essential oil. The
model and the experimental data will be used to determine the mass
transfer parameters including an overall mass transfer coefficient, rate of
extraction and extraction rate by using the unit.
METHODOLOGY
With abundant ilang-ilang in the University of San Carlos- Talamban, resource for
plant material is very much accessible. The study aims to answer the following
specific objectives: (1) design and construct a small-scale experimental distillation
unit to be used for kinetic modelling of an essential oil extraction of ilang-ilang using
steam distillation.; (2) determine the rate of extraction based on the experiment; (3)
determine the mass transfer coefficient and proportionality parameter; (4) determine
the extraction time of the equipment; (5) mass balance. Through the testing and
evaluation process, the specific objective (2), (3) and (4) can be answered while (1)
and (5) can be answered through theoretical design and analysis.
The steam distillation experimental unit will be designed and constructed by the
researcher at the USC-Talamban Campus. The unit will mainly compose of a liter in
volume of stainless steel column (ID = 75mm) that contains six filter plates. The
evenly placed plates are to be placed on a stainless steel support. The maximum
content of each plate will be 30 grams of the solid material. Because the ilang-ilang
will swell once in contact with the steam, an expansion of the bed is inevitable, 80%
of the total capacity of the plate will be used as assumed. In order to evenly distribute
steam feed on each of the filter plates, a perforated tube (ID = 12mm) will pass
through across the center of the plates. The column will be insulated in order to
minimize heat loss. Saturated steam will be produced by the electrical boiler (770
Watts max, 0.3363g/s). A pressure gauge will be placed at the top of column to
measure steam pressure and a thermocouple will be used to measure the temperature
inside the column. Once the system reached steady state both temperature and
pressure will remain constant. The mixture of steam and essential oil at the column
outlet will then be condensed in an PID Peltier-cooled HCHE condenser that is
designed to maintain condensing temperature at various operating conditions of
steam flow rates and pressures. The condensate will then flow in a separating column
for the essential oil. Two liquid phases will be obtained: an organic phase composed
mainly of the extracted essential oil to which was added sodium sulfate to eliminate
any traces of water; and an aqueous phase (aromatic water) that contained an
important amount of essential oil either dissolved in water or being dispersed in fine
droplets. The essential oil found in the aqueous phase will be extracted by ethyl ether
and then distilled.
CONCLUSIONS
Conclusions will drawn from the result of the analysis and experiment
performed.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I'd like to begin by thanking the Lord, our one and only true God and Savior, for always being there for us. Thank you, Lord, for providing us with the knowledge and wisdom to
complete this study, but most importantly, thank you for providing us with the strength to keep going no matter how difficult things get. I would also like to thank the following
individuals for their contributions to this study. To Dr. Michael Loretero, my Adviser, for his unrivaled knowledge and experience in mechanical engineering. I'd like to formally thank
you for your kind assistance and patience. To Dr. Michael Loretero, our department chair for allowing to conduct the study inside the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory Room. To
USC-ERDT for accepting me as a scholar and financing my MS program at the University of San Carlos. To my family, friends, faculty and staff of Mechanical Engineering
Department of Visayas State University, for the continues support.
, bmeloretero@usc.edu.ph
INTRODUCTION
Guenther has presented a detailed background to the process and extensive use of
SDE in the production of essential oils. In contrast, more comprehensive theoretical
analyses on modelling the process have been more recent. Thus, a kinetic model was
proposed by Romdhane et al. for the SDE of aniseed. The model was developed by
treating the oil as if it was comprised of only one constituent and was solved by
fitting the experimental results to the kinetic equation for an overall solid-steam
mass transfer coefficient. Kinetic models, however, are inherently limited in that
their adjustable parameters have no physical meaning. Cassel modelled the
distillation of citronella oil from leaves and twigs based on Fick’s law of diffusion.
An effective diffusivity (D) was obtained by adjusting its value in the proposed
model to fit the experimental data. Cassel also applied the same model to basil
leaves in another investigation. In both cases, the individual constituents making up
the oil and their respective volatilities were not considered. Instead, the oil was
considered to be homogenous and constant for all particles making up the extraction
matrix. In the study published by Sovova which focused on the hydrodistillation of
essential oils, she recognized that further model developments should incorporate
the different volatilities of essential oil components, which would bring about
changes in the distilled oil’s composition during the extraction process. Sovova’s
study is the only one to date, which recognizes that all essential oils are a mixture of
several components with differing volatilities. However, there was no further
development of such a model. More recent modelling by Xavier et al. considered the
oil as a single component. A review of kinetic models for essential oil extraction by
Meziane et al. confirmed that to date, the predictive models simulate the transfer of
a single component considering the solid phase resistance primarily while neglecting
the essential oil concentration in the vapour phase.
Although the study of Romdhane rises above other studies of improving essential oil
steam distillation in terms of kinetic modelling with effective comparison of
theoretical and experimental results, oil retention on the plates of the unsaturated
material is present due to uneven distribution of steam feed on the botanical.
Application of evenly distributed steam on the plates using perforated tube would be
a significant difference in my current research compared to the related literature.
RESULTS & DISCUSSIONS
The overall yield obtained will be determined by measuring the total
amount of oil extracted (in both organic and aqueous phases) after 2.5 h
at a fixed pressure at a steam flow rate of 0.2 g/s. The total amount of
ilang-ilang will be 0.18kg (ie 30 g per plate). Two experiments will be
conducted at the same conditions and show reproducible results, giving
an average yield. This extraction yield of the ilang-ilang used in this
work will be compared on the yield range of ilang-ilang extractions used
in a simple steam distillation system (2% yield) . It is important to know
how well the equipment is performing internally. Indeed poor
hydrodynamics due to channeling can lead to poor and variable
extraction performance between plates. This can therefore affect the
mass transfer kinetics and the overall performance of the equipment. The
aim of part of this work was to determine a method to measure the
internal performance of the equipment. The method consisted of the
measurement of the oil retention in each plate and to determine its
variations between the five plates. At the end of an extraction
experiment, where the six plates will be used, each plate will re-extracted
for about 2h separately at the same conditions of pressure and steam flow
rate as in the initial extraction experiment. Results of two experiments (at
a certain pressure and mass) will be reproduced. The oil retention is the
percentage of oil obtained in the re-extraction experiment from each
plate compared with the total amount of oil extracted. The internal
performance of the equipment will then be compared from its oil
retention in each plate after the first extraction. The average amount of
oil retained by plate the end plates will be compared also. It is expected
that when extraction takes place, the fresh steam, in contact with the first
layers of the solid, extracts oil rapidly and effectively due to a high
concentration gradient. The steam then becomes more and more charged
with oil. It is expected that steam would reach a saturation point that
limits the mass transfer. The yield average value of the total oil obtained
by extraction and re-extraction will be determined; and then is compared
to the range of yields reported in the literature for ilang-ilang. Finally, the
performance of the equipment will be evaluated in accordance with the
oil yield. At this point, the application of perforated tube will be
concluded if it has minimized the oil retention at the end of an extraction.
Included on the results is the variation of the extraction yield with
time at various steam pressures and loads. Included on the results is the
effect of pressure on the extraction yield.
Still with Perforated Steam Distillation Model
Tube as Steam Outlet