Intruduction, invention, components, procedure, application, advantages and disadvantages

1. SOXHLET APPARATUS
Rashmi H.R
M.Sc. pharmacology

2. SOXHLET APPARATUS
•Description
•Invention
•Components
•Procedure
•Applications
•Limitations

3. SOXHLET APPARATUS
• A Soxhlet extractor is lab equipment designed for
processing certain kinds of solid.
• These device allow for continuous treatment of a
sample with a solvent over period of hours or days to
extract compounds of interest.
• Typically, a soxhlet extraction is only required where the
desired compound has a limited solubility in a solvent,
and the impurity is insoluble in that solvent.

4. INVENTION
• It was invented in 1879 by a scientist
named Franz von soxhlet
• It was first invented for the quantification
of fat in the milk.
• Then it has been frequently used for the
extraction of lipids in agricultural
chemistry

5. COMPONENTS
1. Stirrer bar
2. Still pot ( the still pot should not be overfilled and the
volume of solvent in the still pot should be 3 to 4 times
the volume of the soxhlet chamber )
3. Distillation path
4. Thimble
5. Solid
6. Siphon top
7. Siphon exit
8. Expansion adapter
9. Condenser
10. Cooling water in
11. Cooling water out

6. PROCEDURE
• Normally a solid material containing some of the desired compound is
placed inside a thimble made from thick filterpaper, which is loaded into the
main chamber of the soxhlet extractor, the soxhlet extractor is placed onto a
flask containing the extraction solvent. The soxhlet then equipped with a
condenser.
• The solvent is heated to reflux. The solvent vapour travel up a distilantion
arm, and floods into the chamber housing the thimble of solid. The
condenser ensures that any solvent vapour cools, and drips back down into
the chamber housing the solid material.
• The chamber containing the solid material slowly fills with warm solvent.
Some of the desired compound will then dissolove in the warm solvent.
When the soxhlet chamber is almost full, the chamber is automatically
emptied by a siphon side arm, with the solvent running back to down the
distillation flask. This cycle may be allowed to repeat many times, over hours
or day.

7. • During each cycle, a portion of the non-volatile
compound dissoloves in the solvent. After many cycles
the desired compound is a concentrated in the distillation
flask. The advantage of this system is that instead of
many portions of a warm solvent being passed through
the sample, just and batch of solvent is recycled.
• After extraction the solvent is removed, typically by
means of a rotary evaporator, yielding the extracted
compound. The non-soluble portion on the extracted
solid remains in the thimble, and is usually discarded.

8. APPLICATIONS
It is the most useful apparatus for solid-liquid
extraction in various fields such as
• pharmacecutics
• Environment and also
• foodstuffs
nowadays , soxhlet apparatus is still common and
widely used as a reference and standard method in
many laboratories for the extraction of oil from
various materials.

9. Microwave assisted soxhlet extraction (MASE )
• Fat extraction from
1. Prefried and fried meat.
2. Fish and.
3. Bakery products.
Microwave - integrated soxhlet extraction (MISE )
• Extract oil from
1. Olive seeds.
2. Oleaginous seeds, and
3. Bakery products.

10. ADVANTAGE & DISADVANTAGES
advantages
1. Mechanically gentle process yet quite
efficient extraction
2. Can perform elemental sulfur removal
simultaneously (activated Cu )
disadvantages
1. Lengthly process ( more than 24 hrs )
2. Reqire azeotropic mixture to ensure efficient
extraction