Scrophularia Drying

1. Customer Background
This Scrophularia drying project, through the innovative application of a gas-fired mesh belt dryer, overcame the industry challenges of low efficiency and inconsistent quality associated with traditional sun-drying methods. Based on the large-scale production needs of our Anhui customer, we customized a 30-meter long, 2.3-meter wide, 6-layer drying system, achieving a revolutionary efficiency improvement from the traditional 40-50 days to just 6 days. This solution utilizes staged temperature control technology, accurately simulating core processes such as “sweating,” not only increasing daily processing capacity to 8.5 tons but also maintaining the retention rate of the key active ingredient, harpagoside, at over 92%.

2. Customer Evaluation
Mr. Tan from Anhui provided a professional evaluation from three perspectives: First, in terms of engineering adaptability, the equipment’s three-dimensional design increased the original factory’s production capacity by more than four times and fully met environmental protection requirements; second, in terms of process compliance, the equipment successfully achieved “continuous sweating,” with the finished product’s extract content reaching 68.5%, exceeding pharmacopoeia standards; third, in terms of economics, although the initial investment was high, the annual processing capacity was greatly increased, labor costs were reduced by 67%, and the investment is expected to be recovered within 6 months, resulting in significant overall benefits.

3. Application Scope
This case study not only provides an industrial model for Scrophularia drying, but its modular design has also been successfully replicated in the processing of other medicinal materials such as Atractylodes macrocephala and Poria cocos, promoting the transformation of traditional Chinese medicinal material processing from a “weather-dependent” model to a standardized, continuous modern industry, validating the core value of technological innovation in improving quality and efficiency in traditional industries.