MECHANIZATION

MACHINES RAW

AND

FOR

AUTOMATION

GRINDING

MEDICINAL

PLANT

MATERIAL S. I. Kreshchenyuk, and A. P. Prokopenko

V.

I. Litvinenko,

UDC 615.322.014.21.002.5

Tens of thousands of tons of medicinal plant raw m a t e r i a l are p r o c e s s e d e v e r y y e a r in the e n t e r p r i s e s of the medical industry. The p r i m a r y t r e a t m e n t of plant raw m a t e r i a l , including cleaning, sorting, and grinding, is an ext r e m e l y important stage upon which the subsequent technological p r o c e s s e s (extraction, filtration, etc.), and also the yield and quality of the end products depend to a considerable extent [1, 2]. We have analyzed the equipment of p h a r m a c e u t i c a l chemical f a c t o r i e s with machines for grinding and the composition of the plant m a t e r i a l p r o c e s s e d (Table 1). It can be seen f r o m Table 1 that the plant raw m a t e r i a l subjected to p r o c e s s i n g in pharmaceutical chemical f a c t o r i e s consists of different parts of plants differing in mechanical strength, anatomical s t r u c t u r e , and the like. This r e q u i r e s the choice of suitable machines for grinding [4]. An analysis of the machines used f o r grinding plant raw m a t e r i a l in pharmaceutical chemical fact o r i e s has shown that t h e i r selection is not the best in many c a s e s and is made without taking into account the nature of the raw m a t e r i a l and the r e q u i r e m e n t s of technology (Table 2). It can be seen f r o m Table 2 that t h e r e is a large element of chance in the question of the selection of machines for grinding medicinal plant raw m a t e r i a l and t h e r e f o r e the grinding stage is c a r r i e d out without taking the r e q u i r e m e n t s of the technology of the production of phytochemical p r e p a r a t i o n s into account. F o r example, roots and r h i z o m e s are ground in root c r u s h e r s , " P e r p l e k s " and " E k s t s e l ' s i o r " machines, in DKU-M c r u s h e r s and waste wood c r u s h e r s , in tobacco-shredding machines, etc. Some of these m a c h ines are unsuitable for grinding r o o t s and t h e r e f o r e cannot e n s u r e the r e q u i r e d fineness of grinding and uniformity and lead to high l o s s e s of raw m a t e r i a l through dust formation, which may amount to 10-12%. Since the mechanical strength of the individual types of raw m a t e r i a l is not taken into consideration, the machines w e a r rapidly and b r e a k down. This can be illustrated by the facts obtained f r o m an analysis of the t r e a t m e n t of r o o t s and r h i z o m e s . In anatomical s t r u c t u r e and mechanical strength, r o o t s may be divided into four c a t e g o r i e s [5]: 1) v e r y tough, woody, and fibrous ( r e s t - h a r r o w , e l e u t h e r o e o c c u s , l i c o r i c e , milkwort, etc.); 2) fibrous of diff e r e n t densities (mallow, aralia, hogsfennel); 3) nonfibrous, hard but brittle J a c o b ' s ladder, sweetflag, groundsel); 4) friable (male f e r n , bryony). Roots of the t h i r d and fourth c a t e g o r i e s are comparatively e a s y to grind in the usual types of g r i n d e r while it would be desirable to grind those of the f i r s t category only in DR-5 g r i n d e r s . When t o b a c c o - s h r e d ding machines are used to comminute l i c o r i c e root, the raw m a t e r i a l is previously moistened in o r d e r to soften it (for f r o m 8 to 48 h), in view of the fact that when the dry roots are ground the knives break. This has an a d v e r s e effect on the quality of the medicinal m a t e r i a l s obtained f r o m l i c o r i c e root.

Khar,kov S c i e n t i f i c - R e s e a r c h Institute of P h a r m a c e u t i c a l Chemistry. T r a n s l a t e d f r o m KhimikoF a r m a t s e v t i c h e s k i i Zhurnal, Vol. 5, No. 6, pp. 46-48, June, 1971. Original a r t i c l e submitted F e b r u a r y 3, 1970.

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TABLE 1. Composition of the Plant Raw Material P r o c e s s e d m

Type of m a t e r i a l Herbage L e ave s Flowers F r u i t and s e e d s Roots and r h i z o m e s Bark Bulbs and f r e s h l e a v e s Total

Specific volume (in % of the total m a t e r i a l processed)

Ground in p h a r m a c e u t i c a l c h e m i c a l f a c t o r i e s (in % on the type of m a t e r i a l )

38.3 32.5 18.7 6.2 3.0 0.5 0.9

48 4.2 53.3 41.9 64.5

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TABLE 2. Machines u s e d f o r Comminuting Medicinal Plant Raw M a t e r i a l Type of machine "Ekstsel'sior, [,Excelsior"]

Disintegrator "Pc r p l e k s " TBM t o b a c c o - s h r e d d i n g machine Electric meat grinder DKU-M c r u s h e r DR-5 wood w a s t e c r u s h e r KDM-2 bone g r i n d e r DZh-5 root g r i n d e r Pigment g r i n d e r 059 "Belaruss'-l" cutter-grinder "Shil,bakh" c r u s h e r

Medicinal plant m a t e r i a l Belladonna and mint l e a v e s , l i l y - o f - t h e - v a l l e y herbage, r o o t s and r h i z o m e s of w o l f b e r r y , Daurian bugbane, e l e u t h e r o coccus, male f e r n , s e e d s of nuxvomica and strophanthus L e a v e s of s u m a c and aloe, bulbs of autumn c r o c u s L e a v e s of D a l m a t i a n c h r y s a n t h e m u m , oak b a r k , fruit of the dog r o s e , r o o t s of rhubarb, v a l e r i a n , and mallow Roots of l i c o r i c e and mallow, oak b a r k , r a c e m e s of e v e r l a s t ing', sea kale Aloe l e a v e s , c o m m o n onion, autumn c r o c u s bulbs, herbage of the g r e a t plantain, c a p s i c u m Fruit of t h i n - f r u i t e d sophora, (Sophora pachycarpa) thyme herbage, capsicum Eleutherococcus roots Fruit of hawthorn and dog r o s e Male f e r n r h i z o m e s Seeds of Chinese magnolia vine T u r k i s h filbert Capsicum

In view of the difficulty in the p r i m a r y p r o c e s s i n g of dry r o o t s , it must be mentioned that in the f r e s h state r o o t s (other than the r h i z o m e s of eleutherococcus) can e a s i l y be cut into p i e c e s ,and they can be cornminuted at the t i m e of gathering. F o r t h e s e p u r p o s e s it is possible to use the s e l f - p r o p e l l e d root c u t t e r s used by the " S o y u z l a k r i t s a " combine in a s s o c i a t i o n with d r y e r s of the S Z P B - 2 (mobile d r u m grain dryer) type [2]. Such m e a s u r e s enable a high-quality medicinal r a w m a t e r i a l to be obtained r e a d y f o r t r e a t m e n t in c h e m i c a l and p h a r m a c e u t i c a l f a c t o r i e s . Machines with a cutting m e c h a n i s m m u s t be c o n s i d e r e d the m o s t suitable f o r comminuting l e a v e s , h e r b a g e , and r a c e m e s , since machines with an impact and grinding action lead to the f o r m a t i o n of dust and to high l o s s e s . The c o n s i d e r a t i o n s e x p r e s s e d have a g e n e r a l nature and cannot take all f e a t u r e s of the r a w m a t e r i a l into account, since f o r e a c h type of plant m a t e r i a l it is n e c e s s a r y to select the o p t i m u m p a r t i c l e size of the c o m m i n u t e d m a t e r i a l and, consequently, the c o r r e s p o n d i n g t y p e of m a c h i n e s according to the method of e x t r a c t i o n and the p r o p e r t i e s and localization of the s u b s t a n c e s of i n t e r e s t [3, 6, 7]. Thus, the p r o b l e m of the p r i m a r y t r e a t m e n t of medicinal plant r a w m a t e r i a l includes p r o b l e m s on the creation of comminution equipment acting on the raw m a t e r i a l by v a r i o u s p r i n c i p l e s (impact, cutting, grinding, crushing, o r a c o m bined action), the study and selection of the o p t i m u m conditions f o r comminution in dependence on the ana t o m i c a l s t r u c t u r e , m e c h a n i c a l strength, and the composition of the active s u b s t a n c e s and t h e i r localization in the individual p a r t s and organs of the plant, and also the study of the s t o r a g e t i m e s of medicinal plant m a t e r i a l in the connninuted state under v a r i o u s conditions.

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The solution of these problems will permit the equipping of chemical and pharmaceutical factories, and enterprises for the primary treatment of medicinal plant raw material, with the necessary machines for comminuting the plants, when the characteristics of the raw material mentioned above and the requirernents of technology are taken into account, and a correct approach to the question of storing raw material and creating suitable stocks of it, since the practice of gathering raw material in a single year does not ensure the planned development and rhythmic working of the enterprises, LITERATURE I. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

CITED

I.A. Murav'ev and V. D. Ponomarev in: Materials of the All-Union Conference on the Improvement of the Production of Drugs and Galenicals [in Russian], Tashkent (1969), p. 144. P . T . Kondratenko, S. D. Kur, and F. M. Rozllko, The Collection, Cultivation, and Processing of Medicinal Plants [in Russian], Moscow (1965). A.G. Lyukshenkov,Collection of Scientific Papers from the Moscow Pharmaceutical Institute [in Russian], Vol. 1 (1957), p. 287. Proceedings of a European Conference on Comminution [Russian version] (1966). A.F. Gammerman, Course of Pharmacognosy [in Russian] (1960), Moscow. J. Kelleher, Brit. Chem. Eng., 4, 467 (1958). W. Fridrich, Muble, 98, 625 (19-61).

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