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US-20260125338-A1 - Products and methods related to the distillation of molecules from aerosols

US20260125338A1US 20260125338 A1US20260125338 A1US 20260125338A1US-20260125338-A1

Abstract

Various aspects of this disclosure relate to the discovery that converting a solid or a liquid into an aerosol allows the distillation of molecules from the aerosol in seconds at temperatures that are significantly less than the boiling points of the molecules. Various aspects of this disclosure relate to the discovery that mute plants can be extracted at both ambient temperatures and temperatures significantly less than the boiling points of the volatile molecules of the mute plants by capturing the volatile molecules in a solvent such as ethanol.

Inventors

  • C. Russell Thomas

Assignees

  • Natural Extraction Systems, LLC

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20231002

Claims (20)

  1. 1 . A method to separate a molecule from an impurity, comprising: providing a composition comprising the molecule and the impurity, wherein the molecule is vanillin, the molecule is present in the composition in a solid phase or a liquid phase, and the impurity is present in the composition in a solid phase or a liquid phase; converting the molecule into a vaporized molecule in a gas phase, wherein the vaporized molecule is vanillin, the gas phase has a pressure and a temperature, the pressure of the gas phase is at least 0.5 atmospheres and no greater than 2 atmospheres, the temperature of the gas phase is less than 250 degrees Celsius, the molecule has a boiling point at the pressure and a vapor pressure at the temperature, the pressure of the gas phase is greater than the vapor pressure of the molecule, the boiling point of the molecule is greater than the temperature of the gas phase, and either the impurity lacks a vapor pressure or the impurity has a vapor pressure at the temperature that is less than the vapor pressure of the molecule at the temperature; separating the vaporized molecule from the impurity; and condensing the vaporized molecule into a condensed molecule, wherein the condensed molecule is vanillin.
  2. 2 - 9 . (canceled)
  3. 10 . The method of claim 1 comprising bombarding the composition with a sweep gas for no greater than 60 seconds.
  4. 11 - 40 . (canceled)
  5. 41 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the bombarding suspends at least 75 percent of the composition in the gas phase.
  6. 42 - 44 . (canceled)
  7. 45 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the bombarding performs work on the composition that translates at least 90 percent of the composition by at least 1 meter.
  8. 46 - 48 . (canceled)
  9. 49 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the bombarding accelerates at least 90 percent of the composition to an average velocity that is greater than 100 millimeters per second.
  10. 50 - 51 . (canceled)
  11. 52 . The method of claim 10 , wherein: the composition has a temperature of no greater than 100 degrees Celsius when the composition is provided; the method comprises heating the composition to a temperature greater than 100 degrees Celsius; and the bombarding heats the composition.
  12. 53 - 73 . (canceled)
  13. 74 . The method of claim 1 . wherein providing the composition comprises grinding a starting composition to an average particle size that is no greater than 5 millimeters.
  14. 75 - 81 . (canceled)
  15. 82 . The method of claim 1 , comprising suspending at least 75 percent of the composition in the gas phase.
  16. 83 - 85 . (canceled)
  17. 86 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the impurity is cellulose I.
  18. 87 - 103 . (canceled)
  19. 104 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the composition comprises the molecule at a concentration of at least 10 parts per million and no greater than 1 percent by mass.
  20. 105 - 124 . (canceled)

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This International Application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Ser. No. 63/412,426, filed Oct. 1, 2022, and U.S. Provisional Ser. No. 63/412,427, filed Oct. 1, 2022, each of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. BACKGROUND Natural product extraction is a mature technical field. An oligopoly of a few major flavor and fragrance companies achieved economies of scale and global footprints. Their products became commoditized and fungible, which forced cost-cutting and tight profit margins. Many “current good manufacturing practices” utilize chemicals now known to present health risks and labor practices that draw an uncomfortable line between acceptable and exploitative. Regulators and customers increasingly pressure the ingredients industries, and newsworthy publications suggest that new regulations may inadvertently end the economically-viable production of several key ingredients used in everyday consumer packaged goods. A new extraction technology that could increase profit margins without reliance upon disfavored solvents could allow flavor and fragrance companies to absorb the cost of additional regulation and save the global supply of ingredients that currently require manufacturing methods that may not remain tenable in the years to come. SUMMARY Various aspects of this disclosure relate to the discovery that converting a solid or a liquid into an aerosol allows the distillation of molecules from the aerosol in seconds at temperatures that are significantly less than the boiling points of the molecules. This discovery extends beyond aerosols to many compositions that have large surface-area-to-volume ratios. Various aspects of this disclosure relate to the discovery that mute plants, which were historically resistant to extraction and include, for example, lily of the valley, can be extracted at both ambient temperatures and temperatures significantly less than the boiling points of the volatile molecules of the mute plants by capturing the volatile molecules in a solvent such as ethanol. Such extractions are commercially viable, for example, by recirculating a gas through a first chamber that contains biomass of the mute plant and a second chamber that contains the solvent. This discovery extends beyond mute plants to other compositions that comprise volatile molecules. DETAILED DESCRIPTION Various aspects of this disclosure relate to a method to separate a molecule from an impurity, comprising: providing a composition comprising the molecule and the impurity, wherein the molecule is present in the composition in a solid phase or a liquid phase, and the impurity is present in the composition in a solid phase or a liquid phase; converting the molecule into a vaporized molecule in a gas phase, wherein the gas phase has a pressure and a temperature, the molecule has a boiling point at the pressure and a vapor pressure at the temperature, the pressure of the gas phase is greater than the vapor pressure of the molecule, the boiling point of the molecule is greater than the temperature of the gas phase, and either the impurity lacks a vapor pressure or the impurity has a vapor pressure at the temperature that is less than the vapor pressure of the molecule at the temperature; separating the vaporized molecule from the impurity; and condensing the vaporized molecule into a condensed molecule. The precise nature of a distillation apparatus configured to perform a method of this disclosure is not limiting, and the methods of this disclosure may be performed, for example, in a system described in European U.S. Pat. No. 3,283,606B 1. In this disclosure, the term “boiling point” includes both the conventional definition of the term, and, when a molecule of this disclosure lacks a boiling point and has a sublimation point, then the term “boiling point” encompasses the term sublimation point in reference to such a molecule. Caffeine sublimes instead of boiling, for example, and, in this disclosure, the “boiling point” of caffeine refers to the sublimation point of caffeine. In some embodiments, solid or liquid particles of a composition are introduced into a chamber, passageway, vessel, or tube that contains a moving sweep gas. The bombardment of the sweep gas aerosolizes the composition and transports it through the chamber, passageway, vessel or tube. The aerosolized composition remains in contact with the sweep gas for a period of time. Molecules evaporate from the composition to form a vapor. A method is provided to separate the evaporated vapor from the non-evaporated components of the composition, for example, such as by passing the aerosol through a cyclone. A method is then provided to separate the vapor from the sweep gas. The sweep gas containing the vaporized molecules may be passed through a spray or curtain of collection solvent or bubbled through a tank of collection solvent to condense the vaporized molecules into condensed molecules. The collec