Steam distillation of cinnamon oil

The Daily News started carrying a series of articles last week on the research reports presented at the 13th Symposium of the ERU (Engineering Research Unit of the Faculty of engineering, University of Moratuwa) which is mandated to promote and disseminate research in the faculty. Research is a core function of a university and well directed research can really support economic growth.

The theme of this symposium was" Research for Industry. This series of articles is carried for the benefit of the industrialists and researchers and stakeholders in the country to initiate, new partnerships.

This week we feature the report on the Design of an effective heat exchanger for cinnamon oil extraction and feasible solution for toxics in wastewater!!

Design of an effective heat exchanger for Cinnamon oil extraction Lack of knowledge in heat exchanger design and fabrication is the major hindrance for improving the essential oil extraction process in Sri Lanka .

Most of the extraction plants use submerged coils in still water where the temperature approach is not sufficient enough to have efficient heat transfer resulting in using of large heat transfer areas unnecessarily. Further due to poor heat transfer efficiencies, most of the highly volatile compounds in the essential oils escape to atmosphere without being condensed.

The objective of the research work was to design an economical and effective condenser for steam distillation of cinnamon oil.

Oil vapour and steam were condensed in a two pass shell and tube heat exchanger. Condensate was then sub-cooled in a double pipe to the required temperature of 35 AoC. Counter current flow has been used in both heat exchangers.

The two main spice derivatives exported from Sri Lanka are essential oils and oleoresins. Essential oils of spice are volatile aromatic components of spice generally extracted by steam distillation process.

Oleoresins, combining essential oils with non-volatile elements of the spice provide flavor profiles characteristic of the spice. Essential oils are used in perfumes, cosmetics, toiletries, pharmaceuticals, soft drinks, ice creams and frozen desserts. The United States is the world's largest market followed by the European Union for spice derivatives. Table 1 below shows the American imports of the essential oils for past five years.

Even though Sri Lanka has been famous for spices for more than five centuries, our market share of spice derivatives to the largest user in the world is less than 0.6%. Spice derivatives are value added products which need extensive research in both manufacturing and processing in order to be competitive in the world market.

Introduction of new products and new technologies with quality and the certification are the paramount factors that decide the market share.

The new design allowed the controlling of temperature using both shell and tube heat exchanger and the double pipe for varying steam flow rates which is not possible in conventional design.

In continuous operation, the traditional designs have the problem of maintaining the temperature approach (i.e. the difference between the hot fluid temperature and the cold fluid temperature) due to the increase in temperature of the water bath. Since the cooling water is re-circulated after evaporative cooling in the new design, a constant temperature approach can also be maintained during continuous operation of the plant.

The design work was carried out by M.D. Silva as the design project component of the Engineering Council Examinations UK under the supervision of Dr Shantha Amarasinghe of the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Moratuwa.

A local exporter of essential oils, Natural Product Holdings (Pvt) Ltd funded the entire project and assisted in fabricating the heat exchangers and supplying raw materials and testing facilities.

Unit: 		$00020002001200220032004
France 		37,03934,71938,54939,46049,306
India 		30,04727,44232,06733,00037,218
Brazil 		19,57518,83324,65240,57228,321
Mexico 		17,08917,87418,39723,49526,339
China 		23,44125,32025,95924,37721,839
Sri Lanka 	1,4751,6581,5201,3681,836
Global Total 	269,824265,333294,111315,944311,214
Share of SL	0.55%0.62%0.52%0.43%0.59%

Table 1:  American Imports of Essential Oil (HS3301)