Ultrasonic Production of Flavour Ingredients

• Ultrasonic extraction increases yield and shortens process time.
• Ultrasound is the key-technology for sustainable green extraction as it is a safe process using safe, green solvents.
• Furthermore, it has a very high energy-efficiency.

Botanical Extracts

Ultrasonic extraction is commercialized technique for the production of high-quality extracts for the food & beverage, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.
“Using ultrasound, full extractions can now be completed in minutes with high reproducibility, reducing the consumption of solvent, simplifying manipulation and work-up, giving higher purity of the final product, eliminating post-treatment of waste water and consuming only a fraction of the fossil energy normally needed for a conventional extraction method such as Soxhlet extraction, maceration or Clevenger distillation. Several classes of food components such as aromas, pigments, antioxidants, and other organic and mineral compounds have been extracted, analyzed and formulated efficiently from a variety of matrices (mainly animal tissues, microalgae, yeasts, food and plant materials).” [Chemat et al. 2017]

Ultrasonic Extraction of Chilli FlakesAs market leader, Hielscher Ultrasonics has established a broad data base of knowledge about ultrasonic extraction processes including the extraction of spices, herbs, flowers, fruits, vegetables for the production of flavors and fragrances. Hielscher Ultrasonics has gained profound knowledge on the extraction of various plant materials such as coffee, saffron, grapes (wine), oak, tea leaves, lavender, mint, stevia, chili peppers, vanilla, cocoa, boldus leaves, and many others.
Ultrasonic extraction processes can be performed with almost any solvents such as water, alcohol, oils, hexane, benzene etc.
For the production of flavors, fragrances and active components, which will be used as ingredients in the food & beverage, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and perfume industries, the usage of non-hazardous, green solvents such as water and alcohol are a great advantage.

Forms of ultrasonic extraction:

• Sonication
• Thermo-Sonication
• Mano-Sonication
• Thermo-Mano-Sonication
• Ultrasonic Soxhlet (Sono-Soxhet)
• Ultrasonic Supercritical Extraction

The ultrasonic method gives better extraction compared in comparison to most of the conventional extraction processes, e.g. maceration, in terms of process time, higher yield, more energy saving, cleanliness, safety and product quality. Especially in regards to the production of food, beverage and pharmaceutical and cosmetic additives, the green ultrasonic extraction technique is a high advantage concerning product safety.

Transparent Flavour Emulsions

Emulsions are a common additive to functionalize food and beverages regarding flavour, nutritional value and stability. Especially for the formulation of beverages, the clearness is an important factor since the final product must fulfil not only quality and nutritional standards, but also optical ones. For clear beverages and foods, this means that the emulsion additive should not interfere with the aimed final quality target. Thereby, a clear emulsion is easier to process. Due to their size, nanoemulsions are transparent and translucent (at least for the naked eye). Due to their high kinetic stability, low viscosity, high transparency, and high stability against sedimentation, creaming, coalescence, and flocculation, they are widely used as ingredients.
The larger the droplet / particle size, the more opacity is contributed to the final product. For the formulation of clear beverages the use of a clear emulsion with nano-droplets gives the best results. Ultrasonic emulsification enables to produce W/O, O/W, inverse emulsions, as well as double or multiple emulsions W/O/W with droplets in the nano-range (so called miniemulsions, nanoemulsions, ultrafine emulsions, or submicron emulsions). Droplet size can be adjusted and controlled by ultrasonic process parameters. Hielscher’s ultrasonic devices are precisely controllable for optimal and reproducible process results.
With the MultiPhaseCavitator, Hielscher has developed a unique flow cell insert to improve the ultrasonic emulsification even further.
Click here to read more about the MultiPhaseCavitator!
Click here to read more about ultrasonic emulsification!

Flavor Encapsulation

The use of liposomes in pharmaceutical and food products is continuously increasing. Liposomes can be used as carriers for active molecules, e.g nutrients and drugs. By sonication, liposomes can be formed by emulsification of a lipid/water suspension or by sonication of multilamellar vesicles (MLVs). By the ultrasonic emulsion process, lipid bilayers are broken into smaller fractures, so that these pieces create themselves to small unilamellar vesicles (SUVs) composed of phospholipids. During the sonication process, active ingredients can be encapsulated into the liposomes.
Click here to learn more about the ultrasonic production of liposomes!

Ultrasonic Extraction Systems

The table below gives you an indication of the approximate processing capacity of our most popular ultrasonic extraction systems:

Ultrasonic Supercritical Extraction

Supercritical fluid and supercritical CO₂ extraction one of the most important extraction techniques when it comes to the production of flavours and fragrances.
Supercritical carbon dioxide is a selective solvent with an adjustable density. Its selectivity and solvent power depends on the variable density which can be influenced by the pressure and temperature.
By combining supercritical extraction with sonication, it becomes possible to use food grade solvents such as alcohol or water and yet to achieve high extraction rates and high yields.
Use the form below to get more information about our ultrasonic extraction systems and their applications!