Design and development of solar hybrid distillation system for essential oil extraction from turmeric

The present study was conducted to design and develop the solar hybrid essential oil extraction system from turmeric at Department of Processing and Food Engineering, PAU, Ludhiana, Punjab. The developed system has six solar parabolic trough concentrator, steam generation unit, steam distillation unit, condensing unit and essential oil separator. A prototype of solar hybrid essential oil extraction system of 10 kg was designed and developed. The volume of steam distillation unit was 0.061m(3) and volume of steam generation was 0.057 m(3). The essential oil was extracted by using three turmeric grates size that is, 14.50 mm, 15.620 mm and 17.53 mm size. The smallest particle size (14.50 mm) having the highest essential oil yield (45 ml/kg) obtained from turmeric grates (P2, L42). The developed system was supplied additional 2 kW energy to extract oil from the turmeric grates. The results obtained from the study indicated that smallest grates size (14.50 mm) has the highest oil yield as compared to the largest grates size (17.53 mm). The steam generation and steam distillation unit has efficiency of 60 and 55.17%, respectively while the condensing unit having the efficiency of the 47.22%. The solar parabolic trough concentrators ensured energy saving of 21.53% and required 6.20 h extraction time. Developed system can be effectively helps in energy saving, reduced time required for oil extraction which makes the system more economical. Novelty impact statement In the developed solar hybrid essential oil extraction system, the oil extraction was performed by the steam diffusion mechanism, as there is no such technology available for the essential oil extraction through the steam diffusion from turmeric. The developed hybrid system ensures 21.53% saving of electrical energy and 17.33% saving of the overall extraction time for the essential oils from turmeric grates. It can be installed and operated on a rooftop, so no additional space is needed. The developed system act as a tool for the generation of the extra income for the farmers in term of value addition.