Extraction of Plant Materials: A New Blender Design and the Extraction of Fresh Cassava Roots in Dilute Orthophosphoric Acid

Abstract

A new blender, with two independent motor units and blender heads within the same cabinet, has been developed for wet homogenization of plant materials in weak acid solutions. The blender uses inexpensive disposable cups with lids, which serve as containers for sample collection, processing chambers, and vessels for the storage of the produced homogenate. This construction allows the simultaneous wet processing of two samples and the continuation of work if one of the units break down. Furthermore the design makes the interchange of components between the two units possible as an additional maintenance security.The blender was tested for its efficiency by homogenizing fresh cassava root in dilute phosphoric acid. The efficiency was determined by characterizing the homogenates by sedimentation analysis, sieve analysis of the fluid bed dried pellets, and measuring the total cyanogen content of the supernatants. This consists of the cyanogenic glucosides linamarin and lotaustralin. The homogenate, which combined the (relatively) lowest sedimentation time with the highest total yield of cyanogens, was obtained after 75–80 s of blending.The sediment contained less than 25% matter of 200-μm size. This new blender design gives the same degree of extraction as the traditional Braun/Waring blenders in less time (75–80 s versus 120–195 s) and offers greater ease of emptying and cleaning than the traditional blenders. We believe that the use of our new blender will permit a higher through-put than possible with the more traditional blenders.