Research progress on the ethanol precipitation process of traditional Chinese medicine

Ethanol precipitation is a purification process widely used in the purification of Chinese medicine concentrates. This article reviews the research progress on the process mechanism of ethanol precipitation, ethanol precipitation process application for bioactive component purification, ethanol precipitation and traditional Chinese medicine quality, ethanol precipitation equipment, critical parameters, parameter research methods, process modeling and calculation methods, and process monitoring technology. This review proposes that ethanol precipitation technology should be further developed in terms of five aspects, namely, an in-depth study of the mechanism, further study of the effects on traditional Chinese medicine quality, improvement of the quality control of concentrates, development of new process detection methods, and development of a complete intelligent set of equipment.