Processes
How a raw herb becomes a standardised extract — every step in order, and what each one is for.
From raw herb to sealed drum
Nothing about the batch is decided during the batch. The route below is fixed per product before production begins; the specification names the solvent, the ratio, the assay band and the mesh, and the process simply executes it.
Each step, defined
Raw herbs
Identified species and specified plant part, bought against a written purchase specification — species, part, harvest window and moisture fixed before an order is placed.
Grinding
The dried botanical is milled to open its structure for extraction. Particle size at this stage is set by the material, since it determines how evenly the solvent moves through the bed.
Cleaning and washing
Foreign matter, dust and field residues are removed before any solvent touches the material. What is not cleaned out here would have to be tested out later.
Successive solvent extraction
The ground material is extracted in repeated passes with the solvent named on the product's specification — water, ethanol, or both. Successive passes pull the actives progressively rather than aggressively.
Filtration
The extract liquor is filtered to remove fines and spent plant matter, leaving a clear miscella that carries the actives forward.
Solvent phase purification
The solvent phase is separated and purified; recovered solvent is recycled within the plant rather than discarded.
Distillation
The miscella is concentrated by distillation under controlled temperature, driving off solvent while protecting heat-sensitive actives. Residual solvent is tested later against ICH Q3C limits.
Physical sterilization
The thick syrupy mass is sterilized by physical treatment — heat and temperature hold, not chemical sterilants — bringing microbial load within specification before the mass takes its final form.
The mass takes one of four forms
Soft extracts
Semi-solid concentrates, standardised on the actives and held in the soft state for formulations that want them.
Dry extracts
The largest class — the mass carried through to a dry, standardised powder.
Oil extracts
Lipophilic fractions carried in oil, for actives that do not survive as dry powders.
Oleoresins
Full-spectrum viscous concentrates holding both the volatile and the resinous fractions.
Drying
The form determines the dryer. Two routes, chosen by the heat sensitivity of the actives and the particle profile the specification asks for.
Two drying routes
Rotary vacuum dryer
Low-temperature drying under vacuum, chosen for heat-sensitive actives — the mass dries slowly without the actives cooking.
Spray dryer
The concentrate is atomised into a hot chamber and falls as a free-flowing powder — chosen for high volumes and consistent particle size, with any carrier declared on the specification.
Grinding
The dried extract is milled to the mesh stated on the specification, so the powder behaves the same way in the customer's process every time.
QC analysis
Every lot is tested against its agreed specification — identity, assay, heavy metals, pesticide residues, microbiology, residual solvents — before release. A lot outside the band is held, not shipped.
Packing
Double-sealed food-grade LDPE liner inside 25 kg fibre drums, marked with lot number, manufacturing date, best-before date and net weight, palletised and stretch-wrapped for export.
Buyers who need to audit the production route are welcome to. We arrange access on request.
Send us the specification.
Tell us the assay, the volume and the destination port. We respond within one business day.