Development of technology to pulverize natural plant material into d97 3 µm size of powder using air classifier mill

This study was done to develop a pilot equipment, which can pulverize and classify ginseng into 3 μm size of powder, and in which R-22 cooling system is installed to preserve pharmacological compounds and make plant materials brittle. Pulverizing mechanism, in which rotor and stator can destroy the cell wall of plant materials effectively by high shear, and classification mechanism, which uses centrifugal force and drag force produced by the high speed rotation of rotor, were developed. The pilot equipment was tested with ginseng. When Strokes range was <; 0.3, and the radius of cut size was 40.0 mm, the 3 μ size of powder can be produced economically. Therefore, the results can be applied in scaling up the pilot equipment into an equipment for mass production.