“Automation” in extraction can mean a lot of different things. Opening and closing a valve automatically is automation. Running a process according to a timer is automation. As is monitoring pressure, temperature, and liquid level and allowing those conditions to determine what the equipment does next.
Those aren’t necessarily the same thing.
At Illuminated Extractors, we’ve broken automation into three distinct areas because there are three very different things happening simultaneously during extraction. The refrigeration system has to maintain the appropriate thermal conditions. The extraction system has to move solvent through the process in the correct sequence, at the correct rate. And solvent management has to manage liquid and vapor without flooding equipment or creating unnecessary bottlenecks.
That is why we’re developing our automation around three distinct layers: Utility Automation, Process Automation, and Solvent Recovery.
Each addresses a different part of the operation, but all three are built around the same principle: measure what is actually happening inside the system and use those conditions to reduce process variability.
Our utility system manages refrigerant directly within the jackets of the equipment through a sealed, closed-loop ProJak™ DX refrigeration circuit. ProJak Automation manages the pressure and phase behavior of the refrigerant already contained within the system. Because pressure determines the temperature at which the propane refrigerant boils and condenses, Utility Automation can use pressure, temperature relationships, and valve control to manage heating and cooling directly at the equipment jackets.
The ProJak Automation uses multiple temperature measurements and valve states to determine what is happening inside each vessel and how refrigerant should move within the closed circuit. During cooling, the automation manages pressure and refrigerant distribution to maintain the desired thermal conditions. During heating, hot vapor condenses inside the jacket and is subsequently circulated back through the system. The propane isn’t consumed or continually replenished during this process; it is repeatedly compressed, condensed, expanded, evaporated, and redistributed within the sealed ProJak utility loop.
Process Sequence Automation moves from the utility side into the extraction itself. This is where valve sequencing, vacuum, solvent injection, washes, extraction cycles, CRC, and recovery all have to occur in the correct order and under the correct conditions for consistency and repeatability.
There are a tremendous number of opportunities for small differences in operator technique to affect a run. A biomass column needs to be under vacuum before initial injection. Liquid and vapor paths have to be established correctly. Specific valves need to be open, closed, or partially open depending on where solvent is moving. The system may also behave differently during a standard cycle, high-pressure cycle, CRC operation, or recovery.
Process Sequence Automation creates meticulous repeatability around those sequences. It also creates the opportunity to move beyond automation based entirely on time. A timer can tell a machine that five minutes have passed. A sensor can tell the machine what actually happened during those five minutes.
That difference becomes increasingly important as extraction systems become more sophisticated. Pressure, temperature, liquid level, and eventually extraction sensor feedback can determine whether the process has actually reached the condition required to move forward. The goal isn’t simply to reproduce an operator’s valve movement
FASTFLOW Solvent management presents a different automation challenge because liquid and vapor are continuously interacting with one another. The objective isn’t simply to turn recovery on and let it run. Solvent needs to enter at a controlled rate, vapor needs to exit at a rate the system can manage, and the relationship between the two has to remain balanced.
This is particularly important with the GD-1 Rotary Solvent Evaporator. The GD-1 automation architecture uses liquid-level sensing to continuously monitor how full the vessel is. Injection and exhaust valves can then be varied according to liquid level and operating mode. If the GD-1 begins approaching a flood condition, the system can restrict injection, adjust exhaust behavior, or stop the motor
The operating strategy also changes depending on what the GD-1 is being asked to do. High inlet flow combined with low vapor outlet can intentionally flood the GD-1 for a deep-clean cycle, while recovery requires restricted liquid injection and greater vapor flow so solvent can completely boil before product reaches the drain pour.
The operating strategy also changes depending on what the GD-1 is being asked to do. High inlet flow combined with low vapor outlet can intentionally flood the GD-1 for a deep-clean cycle, while recovery requires restricted liquid injection and greater vapor flow so solvent can completely boil before product reaches the drain pour.
Utility, Process, and Solvent Recovery Automation aren’t three unrelated technology packages. They’re three pieces of control over the entire extraction process.
Utility Automation manages the thermal conditions that make extraction possible. Process Sequence Automation manages the sequence that moves solvent through the system. FASTFLOW Solvent Recovery Automation manages the transition back out of that process while providing guardrails around liquid level, pressure, and flow.
This goes beyond an “automated extractor.” This tech creates a system almost capable of understanding the “why” behind the actions being taken on specified conditions.
That’s an important distinction. The objective is to give the operator a machine that handles repeatable process decisions consistently, recognizes conditions before they become problems, and provides better control over the variables that determine how the system performs, and how end products turn out.
Because the next generation of extraction automation shouldn’t simply know which valve to open next. It should understand why.
Three Layers of Automation: Utility, Process & Solvent Recovery “Automation” in extraction can mean a lot of different things. Opening and closing a valve automatically
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