Ethanol precipitation of Codonopsis Radix concentrate with a membrane dispersion micromixer

Ethanol precipitation serves an important separation technology used for the manufacturing of more than 200 traditional Chinese medicines (TCM). In the present study, a membrane dispersion micromixer was employed for the ethanol precipitation of Codonopsis Radix concentrates to reduce the coating loss of active components. As membrane pore size decreased, mixing chamber width decreased, or mixing chamber depth decreased, lobetyolin recovery increased and dry matter removal decreased. Higher dry matter contents of concentrates (DM C ) or lower flow rates of two phases could lead to reduced lobetyolin recovery and increased dry matter removal. The mass ratio of ethanol solution to concentrate (ECR, g/g) showed little effect on lobetyolin recovery. Higher dry matter removal was obtained when ECR was higher. Higher continuous phase Reynolds number ( Re c ) or dispersed phase Reynolds number ( Re d ) resulted in higher lobetyolin recovery and lower dry matter removal. Lobetyolin recovery could be higher than 95% when using micromixing technology, which was about 10% higher than that of stirring. Membrane dispersion technology is promising to reduce the coating loss of active compounds in TCM ethanol precipitation.