Design of pilot plant for the production of essential oil from Eucalyptus leaves

Study presents design, construction and test run of a pilot plant for the production of essential oils (0.864 l/h) from Eucalyptus leaves. Analysis shows that the rate at which steam passes through the leaf bed may deviate from linear relationship to curve depending on the loading capacity. An oil/leave production rate of 3.0x10-2ml/g was obtained. In designing pilot plant, tank still has a dimension of 0.45 m diam and length of 1.65 m. Packed bed height was 0.565 m with an expected pressure head loss of 0.013 m. Overall heat transfer coefficient was calculated as 176.12W/m2 °C. The condenser has a heat load of 4970 kJ/s requiring a cooling water flow rate of 0.047 kg/sec.