A plant extract is a substance or an active with desirable properties that is removed from the tissue of a plant, usually by treating it with a solvent, to be used for a particular purpose.

It’s important to understand that an extract starts from the raw material: the plants. The Identification of a good source includes the description of areas and type of collect.

All equipment may not use the same materials, and the quality of the extraction may vary depending on the preparation of the raw materials.

A solvent must comply with the local regulation, be effective and be selective enough (when needed). Most common are Water, Ethanol, Ethyl acetate.

The process must generally be simple, fast, economic, in compliance with the local regulation, effective and selective when needed. However, certain steps may require a long time of process.

This step consists in the increase of the dry matter content to facilitate the further steps, using for instance evaporation.

Crystallization is the (natural or artificial) process of formation of solid crystals precipitating from a solution. 

Chromatography is used for separation of mixtures. A mixture dissolved in a “mobile phase” passes through a stationary phase, which separates the analyte.

Preparative high performance liquid chromatography is similar to analytical HPLC but features increased injected mass with possibility to “stack” injections automatically. 

Drying means putting out the liquid. Dryers may be atmospheric (spray dryer, fluid bed dryer, etc...), or vacuum (belt dryer, tray dryer, etc…).