Soxhlet extractor
1: Stirrer 2: Still pot 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
A Soxhlet extractor is a kind of laboratory equipment. It is made of glass. Franz von Soxhlet invented it in 1879. It has a flask, an extraction chamber, and a condenser. It can be used for solid-liquid extractions.
In this discontinuous extraction process, the extraction solvent inside the boiling flask is evaporated and re-condensed in the distillation column above. It then falls down onto the solid material requiring extraction. The chamber containing the solid material is connected to the boiling flask below by a syphoning mechanism seen in the Pythagorean cup, which allows the chamber to fill to a point, at which it will empty its contents and start to fill again and the extracted compounds will accumulate in the boiling flask below.
Uses
Chemists use it to remove a material from a solid. It is useful when removing materials that do not dissolve well in any solvent. Chemists use a solvent such as ether or alcohol in the extractor. The Soxhlet extractor applies the solvent repeatedly to the solid until enough of the material dissolves.
Soxhlet Extractor Media
Fruit extraction in progress. The sample is placed directly in the extraction chamber, no thimble used.
The siphoning part of a Soxhlet extraction.
