OPTIMAL CONDITIONS FOR THE SPRAY DRYING OF WATER EXTRACT OF LEONURUS TURKESTANICUS AND EVALUATION OF ITS SEDATIVE EFFECT

Abstract In order to determine the optimal drying conditions for the water extract from the aerial part of Leonurus turkestanicus in a spray dryer, the following parameters were studied: solution concentration, solution feed rate, drying agent inlet and outlet temperatures, and the pressure when feeding the solution into the drying chamber. It was found that to obtain a dry extract with sedative properties from the aerial part of Leonurus turkestanicus, the water extract obtained by water extraction needs to be purified. For this, the extracts are cooled, combined, filtered, and concentrated to a dry mass content of 60%. To the resulting concentrate, 96% ethyl alcohol is added in a volumetric ratio of concentrate to alcohol of 1:4 and left for 6 hours. The precipitate is separated by filtration, the filtrate is concentrated, dissolved in water, and the process continues until a dry residue of 10-15% is formed. The resulting concentrate is dried in the spray dryer “Anhydro No. 2” under the following conditions: solution feed rate – 4.5 L/h*m3; inlet drying agent temperature – 165±5°C; outlet drying agent temperature – 60-70±5°C; air pressure fed through the nozzle – 0.2 MPa. It was established that the dry extract obtained from the Leonurus turkestanicus herb using the proposed technology exhibits sedative activity.