Acacia catechu
Acacia catechu
Purity Levels
10% to 90% Catechins by HPLC
Mechotech designs and manufactures turnkey extraction plants for Acacia catechu (Khair), processing the tree's heartwood — not leaf, root or seed — into an extract standardised to 10% to 90% Catechins by HPLC. Catechins are well-documented flavan-3-ol compounds concentrated in the dense heartwood, historically processed as "catechu" or "cutch" for use as a natural leather-tanning agent and dye, and today equally supplied as a pharmaceutical and nutraceutical antioxidant ingredient. We supply the complete machinery — heartwood chipping, aqueous/hydro-alcoholic extraction, filtration, concentration, crystallisation and drying — to produce grade-tiered catechin extracts for the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, food, and leather-processing industries.
Mechotech's Acacia catechu plant is engineered around the specific chemistry of heartwood catechins: because the target actives are held in the tree's hard, tannin-rich core wood rather than a leaf or root matrix, the line uses heavier-duty chipping and an aqueous or hydro-alcoholic extraction system designed for dense woody biomass, followed by clarification and concentration tuned to the compound's wide processable range. The very broad 10%–90% specification reflects genuine grade-tiering in the catechin market — a crude decolourised heartwood extract sits at the lower end, while progressively deeper purification, fractional crystallisation and re-crystallisation concentrate the catechin fraction toward the 90% isolate demanded by pharmaceutical and high-purity antioxidant buyers. Built in SS 316L with integrated solvent recovery, automation, and full documentation, each plant is delivered as a commissioned turnkey system.
Technical Specifications
| Product | Acacia Catechu Extraction Plant |
|---|---|
| Botanical Name | Acacia catechu |
| Raw Material | Dried, chipped Acacia catechu heartwood |
| Plant Part | Heartwood (core wood) |
| Extract Type | Standardised dry extract (powder), crude to crystallised isolate |
| Standardisation | 10% to 90% Catechins by HPLC (grade-tiered — crude extract to purified isolate) |
| Extraction Method | Aqueous / hydro-alcoholic extraction (closed, jacketed SS 316L extractors) |
| Product-contact Material | SS 316L, electropolished, CIP-cleanable |
| Filtration System | Plate-and-frame filter press with cartridge polish filtration |
| Concentration System | Falling-film / vacuum evaporator with closed-loop solvent recovery |
| Purification System | Fractional crystallisation / re-crystallisation for high-purity (70–90%) grades |
| Drying System | Spray dryer or vacuum tray dryer |
| Automation | PLC-SCADA with recipe management, batch traceability and production reporting |
| Plant Capacity | Configured to requirement |
| Utility Requirements | Steam, chilled/cooling water, compressed air, soft water, power (project-specific) |
| Compliance | GMP hygienic design; full documentation for qualification |
| Final Product Form | Free-flowing standardised extract powder |
Plant Capacities
| Plant Scale | Heartwood Throughput | Typical Use |
|---|---|---|
| Pilot | Configured to your feedstock and trial plan | Product development, catechin-yield and grade validation |
| Semi-Commercial | Configured between pilot and commercial scale | Contract manufacturing, scale-up trials |
| Commercial | Configured to raw-material supply and confirmed buyer volume | Export-grade continuous production for pharma, nutraceutical and tanning buyers |
Capacity is configured to raw-material supply and confirmed buyer volume; we recommend a pilot plant to validate catechin recovery and target grade before scaling.
Manufacturing Process
Heartwood Reception & Chipping
Dried Acacia catechu heartwood logs are authenticated, tested for moisture, and chipped into uniform pieces to maximise solvent contact with the dense woody matrix before extraction.
Aqueous / Hydro-Alcoholic Extraction
Chipped heartwood is charged into closed, jacketed SS 316L extractors and extracted with water or a controlled hydro-alcoholic solvent system under regulated temperature across multiple cycles to recover the catechin (flavan-3-ol) fraction from the core wood.
Filtration
The extract (miscella) is clarified through a plate-and-frame filter press followed by cartridge polish filters to remove woody fibre and particulate.
Concentration & Solvent Recovery
The miscella is concentrated in a falling-film / vacuum evaporator, with solvent recovered through the condenser return system.
Grade-Tiered Standardisation
For lower-end grades (10–40%), the concentrate is dried directly to a decolourised crude extract. For higher-purity grades (70–90%), the concentrate undergoes fractional crystallisation and re-crystallisation to isolate and concentrate the catechin fraction before drying.
Drying & Quality Control
The standardised Acacia catechu extract is spray- or vacuum-dried, then released after HPLC assay, residual-solvent, heavy-metal, microbial, and moisture testing with full certificate-of-analysis documentation.
Major Plant Equipment
- Heartwood log handling & chipping system
- Stainless-steel aqueous/hydro-alcoholic extraction vessels (jacketed, SS 316L)
- Solvent storage tanks
- Solvent transfer pumps
- Plate-and-frame filter press / pressure leaf filter
- Cartridge polish filters
- Falling-film / vacuum evaporator
- Fractional crystallisation system
- Closed-loop solvent recovery system
- Condensers & vacuum pumps
- Spray dryer / vacuum tray dryer
- CIP (clean-in-place) system
- Storage tanks & finished-product tanks
- PLC-SCADA control panel, electrical MCC & instrumentation
Plant Output
Applications
- Pharmaceutical standardised ingredient supply
- Nutraceutical antioxidant capsule and tablet formulations
- Natural leather-tanning agent (catechu/cutch) and dye supply
- Food, flavour, and beverage applications
- Cosmetic and personal care active ingredients
- Ayurvedic and traditional medicine preparations
- Export to regulated-market ingredient buyers
Key Features
SS 316L Construction
Electropolished SS 316L product-contact surfaces with CIP operation between batches.
Heavy-Duty Heartwood Handling
Chipping and extraction equipment sized for dense woody heartwood biomass — a genuinely different raw-material handling challenge from leaf- or root-based botanical lines.
Closed-Loop Solvent Recovery
Integrated condenser-return recovery reuses solvent between batches and reduces solvent loss.
Grade-Tiered Standardisation (10–90%)
In-process HPLC assay and a dedicated fractional-crystallisation stage let a single line produce anywhere from crude 10% extract to purified 90% catechin isolate on demand.
Dual-Market Output
The same core platform supplies both purified pharmaceutical/nutraceutical catechin isolate and crude/mid-grade catechu extract for natural leather-tanning and dye applications.
Scalable Batch Capacity
Plants are configured to requirement from pilot scale upward, with modular expansion.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Mechotech supply the complete machinery for Acacia catechu?
What specification can the Acacia catechu plant achieve?
Why is the Acacia catechu specification such a wide 10% to 90% range?
What plant part of Acacia catechu is used, and why?
Is Acacia catechu extract only used in pharma and nutraceuticals?
What production capacities are available for the Acacia catechu plant?
Which industries use the Acacia catechu plant, and does the plant support GMP qualification?
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