Patent Publication Number: US-2020298139-A1

Title: Hydro distillation of aromatic plant based compounds

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The present application claims the benefit from U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/819,831 filed Mar. 18, 2019, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference into this application. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present disclosure relates to specific low pressure and temperature water based processing equipment to produce aromatic hydrosol and terpenes, including essential oils. 
     BACKGROUND 
     The subject matter of the present disclosure solves several problematic designs and work flows in all commonly available extraction units for water based aromatic volatile extraction. 
     All common extraction equipment ‘forces’ the volatile molecules through small diameter tubing into a separate condenser, thus creating unnecessary pressures and movement of the most fragile and volatile molecules. 
     Cohobation is the process of steam condensing on the equipment walls and tubing before it gets trapped in the condenser and re-entering the plant material containing vessel. This creates less desirable results in aromatic distillations as the more fragile volatiles are heated again and again. 
     Separate tubing type condensers of various types (e.g., Liebig, Spiral, cold finger etc.) are difficult to clean as their small orifice ports aren&#39;t accessible by hand. The only way to clean them completely is to anneal them. This is especially important for plant materials like resins, where certain volatile components can be challenging to clean. 
     Common home and laboratory use equipment employs boiling vessels with small diameter openings, which increases the cohobation effect and makes it very difficult to load or discharge plant matter, thus increasing time and labor costs for cleaning. 
     SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     The water based distillation equipment according to an exemplary embodiment includes: 
     a lower boiling vessel for containing plant material, the boiling vessel having an open top portion; 
     a heat source for heating the plant material within the lower boiling vessel; and 
     a condenser mechanically connected to the lower boiling vessel so as to cover the open top portion of the lower boiling vessel; and 
     a collection vessel connected to the distillation equipment. The inside walls of the condenser include gutters for collecting hydrolate and condensate within the distillation equipment, and the collection vessel is coupled to the gutters for receiving the collected condensate. The surface area of the condenser is at least about 1.5 times a surface area of the lower boiling vessel. 
     The subject matter of the present disclosure can be operated as a hydro- as well as a steam-distillation unit. It may be fabricated as small as a 1 gallon home use unit to large 1000 gallon stainless steel units with glass lined extraction chambers and an external steam/heat generator. 
     The present equipment differs from other equipment in that it has a unique large (minimum of 6″) diameter condenser opening that directly attaches to the vessel containing the plant matter, similar to a lid on a kitchen cooking pot. The diameter of the condenser opening relates to the overall capacity of the unit always matching the diameter of the boiling vessel. 
     This condenser is externally, or through jacketed design, cooled by recirculating cooling liquid to provide an even, low temperature environment for the condensation to occur. In one embodiment, this cooling circuit stays at or around 5 degrees centigrade for optimum condensation of the hydro steam. 
     The unique design and function of the collection gutter inside the condenser allows for the hydrolate to be collected in the external collection vessel. It therefore eliminates cohobation, and other re-entering of condensate into the heating vessel and plant material. 
     The present equipment design eliminates cleaning problems of other closed and narrow condensers commonly available thus making reliability, sterility and non-contaminated high quality aromatic volatiles possible. 
     The apparatus is coupled, but not dependent on a general spherical design of the entire distillation vessel and condenser. 
     Another benefit of the present equipment is the relatively low resistance the volatile steam encounters while emerging into the condenser. There are no small diameter pipes or orifices that the steam has to travel through in order to reach the condenser thus creating a superior quality aromatic distillate. 
     The present equipment is designed to operate at around atmospheric pressure relating to the location of operation, and temperatures associated with the specific uses described below. 
     The present equipment designed to have a condenser surface area of approximately 1.5 times the size of the boiling vessel surface area giving of steam. 
     The present disclosure covers processing equipment fabricated in all different types of materials that employ any of the above mentioned parameters and designs. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
       The FIGURE is a schematic view of the distillation equipment according to the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The FIGURE shows the structure of the distillation equipment  1  according to the present disclosure including the unique large diameter condenser  2  and the lower boiling vessel  3 . 
     A crane  4  is shown in order to raise or lower the condenser  2  onto the boiling vessel  3 . The distillation equipment  1  includes a collection vessel or separation funnel  5  in order to catch aromatic condensate, an optional external steam generator  6  for heating the boiling vessel  3  through a dual jacket or inject dry steam into steam distillation, and an optional direct heat source  7 , such as, for example, an electric heating mantel or a gas burner. 
     The distillation equipment  1  has a single or optional dual jacket vessel  8 , an optional kettle design for allowing more even heat and better boiling characteristics in hydro distillation, and an optional strainer grid  10  for holding plant material above the boiling water (wet steam distillation) or above stream injection (dry steam distillation). 
     The boiling vessel  3  and the condenser  2  are sealed together by, for example, flanges  11  and wing nuts, and a food grade seal  12  is used to seal the flange between the boiling vessel  3  and the condenser  2 . As shown in the FIGURE, the condenser  2  includes a continuous slanted gutter  13  in order to catch the condensate running down the inside walls of the condenser  2  and directing the condensate to a gravity-fed outlet towards collection vessel  5 . The distillation equipment  1  shown in the FIGURE includes single or dual jacket condenser walls  14  for flexible cooling methods and with an optional cylindrical-domed top for even efficient condensate flow towards the collection gutter  13 . The optional round dome shape  15  also optimizes steam distribution and circulation in the condenser  2 . 
     The FIGURE shows at the top of the distillation equipment  1  an adjustable and flexible joint  16  for optimized movement of the condenser  2  onto the boiling vessel  3  via the sturdy crane arm  17  of the crane  4 . 
     The distillation equipment  1  includes an optional recirculating coolant outlet  18  and an optional recirculating coolant inlet  19 , and optional quick disconnect clamps  20  for easy cleaning and transport. A condensate collection tube  21  is employed in order to direct collected condensate away from the condenser  2  into the collection vessel  5 . 
     The optional external steam generator  6  includes a steam generator inlet  22  and a steam generator outlet  23 . 
     The collection vessel  5  includes a stop cock  24  to separate water soluble from aromatic oil condensate, and an optional valve  25  can be used to open or close steam injection inlet  26  for dry steam distillation. 
     The operation of the distillation equipment  1  will now be described. 
     The distillation equipment  1  is charged for operation by water and plant material (hydro-distillation) in the boiling vessel  3  without the use of the removable strainer  10 . For steam-distillation, the distillation equipment can be loaded with plant material on the strainer  10  and either an appropriate amount of water is provided below the strainer  10  (wet steam distillation), or the injection of steam (dry steam distillation) is provided through the steam injection inlet  26 . 
     In a typical aromatic distillation process with the distillation equipment  1  shown in the FIGURE, the charge would then be heated slowly either by the direct heat source  7  or the optional steam generator  6  until the volatile aromatics are released from the plant material in the boiling vessel  3  and the steam rises into the condenser  2 . The distillation equipment is designed to operate under normal atmospheric pressure and temperatures not to exceed the temperature of boiling water and water steam. 
     The distillation equipment  1  shown in the FIGURE is unique in the design of the condenser  2  in that the steam generated in the boiling vessel  3  passes into the condenser  2  without hindrance or steam being pushed through any tubes etc. The distillation equipment  1  then provides a cool (for example 5 Degrees Celsius) surface inside the condenser  2  by using the single wall or jacketed design  14  for the steam to efficiently condensate back to a liquid state. The ratio of the surface area of the inside condenser walls and the generated steam are of importance and are reflected in this invention design. The now condensed liquid then runs down the inside condenser walls and is then collected by the unique continuous slanted gutter  13  all around the condenser, which drains by gravity into the collection vessel  5  via the collection tube  21 . Once the plant material has been extracted thoroughly, the heat source (either direct heat source  7  or the external steam generator  6 ) is turned off, and the process is complete. 
     The distillation equipment  1  also reduces cleaning and loading time by having no small diameter ports or openings. The connection flanges  11  of the condenser  2  and boiling vessel  3  are large diameter for ease of access, thus reducing labor costs significantly.