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Our core industrial evaporator product lines are purpose-built for botanical extraction, herbal concentration, and essential oil production — combining thermal efficiency with gentle processing to preserve active compounds.
The global herbal extract and essential oil market is experiencing robust growth, driven by rising consumer demand for natural ingredients in pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, and functional foods. Industrial evaporators are the backbone of this supply chain.
The global herbal extract market is projected to surpass USD 8.5 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of over 7%. Essential oil production alone exceeds 250,000 metric tons annually. Industrial evaporators are critical infrastructure enabling this scale of botanical processing worldwide.
Energy costs represent 30–45% of total operating expenses in herbal extract manufacturing. Modern MVR and multi-effect evaporators reduce steam consumption by up to 80% compared to single-effect systems, making energy-efficient evaporation a top procurement priority for processors globally.
China accounts for over 40% of global herbal extract production and is the world's leading supplier of industrial evaporation equipment. Chinese manufacturers like Jiangsu Zongheng have achieved international certifications (ISO9001, ASME "U" Stamp), enabling direct supply to global botanical processors.
Herbal extracts and essential oils contain volatile aromatic compounds, heat-sensitive bioactives, and delicate phytochemicals that degrade under high-temperature processing. Industrial evaporators — particularly low-temperature vacuum evaporators and MVR systems — enable concentration and purification while preserving therapeutic potency, fragrance integrity, and regulatory compliance. Choosing the right evaporation technology directly determines product quality, yield efficiency, and production cost competitiveness.
Industrial evaporators serve a wide spectrum of processing stages across the herbal extract and essential oil value chain. Each application demands specific evaporator configurations to optimize yield, quality, and operating cost.
After initial solvent or water extraction, raw herbal liquids contain 2–8% active compounds in large volumes of water or ethanol. Multi-effect falling film evaporators concentrate these liquids to 30–60% solids content efficiently. Low-temperature vacuum operation (40–65°C) preserves polyphenols, alkaloids, flavonoids, and glycosides that are critical to product efficacy — making evaporator selection a direct quality determinant for manufacturers of standardized botanical extracts.
Steam distillation of aromatic plants produces hydrosols — floral waters containing trace essential oil fractions and water-soluble aromatic compounds. Thin-film evaporators and waste heat evaporators enable recovery of residual essential oil from these distillates, improving yield by 8–15%. This application is particularly valuable for high-value botanicals such as rose, neroli, lavender, and jasmine where raw material costs are significant.
Supercritical CO₂ and ethanol extraction processes generate large volumes of solvent-laden extract solutions. Industrial evaporators with explosion-proof configurations recover solvents for reuse, reducing operating costs by 25–40%. MVR evaporators are increasingly preferred in this application for their ability to operate continuously with minimal thermal input, protecting heat-sensitive cannabinoids, terpenes, and essential oil fractions during solvent removal.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) concentrate production, Ayurvedic extract manufacturing, and European phytomedicine production all rely on industrial evaporators for GMP-compliant concentration. Falling film evaporators with CIP (clean-in-place) systems, sanitary surface finishes, and validated temperature control are standard requirements. Jiangsu Zongheng's evaporators meet pharmaceutical-grade standards, serving clients including Harbin Pharmaceutical Group and Qilu Pharmaceutical.
Flavor houses and fragrance manufacturers use industrial evaporators to concentrate natural botanical extracts — vanilla, citrus, mint, and spice oleoresins — into stable, high-potency forms for use in food, beverage, and personal care applications. Short-path evaporators and wiped-film evaporators handle viscous, heat-sensitive fragrance concentrates that would degrade in conventional evaporators, preserving top notes and complex aroma profiles.
Herbal extract and essential oil production generates high-COD, high-salinity process wastewater containing residual organics. MVR evaporators enable zero-liquid discharge (ZLD) by concentrating wastewater to a crystallizable brine while recovering clean condensate for reuse. This application is rapidly growing as environmental regulations tighten globally, and represents a significant value-add for processors seeking both compliance and water resource recovery.
The industrial evaporator landscape is evolving rapidly, shaped by sustainability mandates, digitalization, and the premiumization of natural ingredient supply chains.
Mechanical Vapor Recompression (MVR) evaporators are rapidly replacing multi-effect systems as the preferred technology for new herbal extract plants. MVR achieves steam economy ratios of 40:1 or higher, with electricity consumption as low as 8–12 kWh per ton of water evaporated. As energy costs rise globally, MVR's operating cost advantage over conventional evaporation is accelerating adoption across botanical processing facilities worldwide.
Leading evaporator manufacturers are integrating IoT sensors, digital twin modeling, and AI-based process control into their systems. Real-time monitoring of temperature profiles, pressure differentials, and concentration endpoints enables predictive maintenance and automatic optimization of evaporation parameters — reducing energy waste by an additional 10–20% while maintaining consistent product quality in herbal extract concentration lines.
Craft botanical extract producers and mid-scale essential oil processors increasingly demand modular, skid-mounted evaporator systems that can be rapidly deployed, relocated, and scaled. Factory-assembled evaporator skids with integrated controls reduce installation time by 60% and capital expenditure by 25–35%, opening industrial evaporation technology to smaller processors who previously relied on batch distillation equipment.
As the market for premium, minimally-processed botanical extracts grows, processors are investing in low-temperature vacuum evaporators that operate at 35–55°C. This preserves thermolabile bioactives — including enzymes, probiotics, and volatile terpene fractions — that are destroyed by conventional evaporation. The premium extract segment commands 3–5x price premiums over standard concentrates, making the capital investment in advanced evaporation technology highly justified.
Modern herbal extract facilities increasingly operate integrated evaporation-spray drying production lines, where concentrated extract from the evaporator feeds directly into spray dryers to produce standardized dry powder extracts. Jiangsu Zongheng's combined evaporator and airflow dryer product portfolio addresses this trend, enabling single-source procurement of complete concentration-drying systems with unified process control and after-sales support.
Chinese industrial evaporator manufacturers are expanding their global footprint, with DDGS alcohol equipment and tube bundle dryer series already exported to Russia and Southeast Asian markets. Compliance with ASME "U" Stamp, CE marking, and international pressure vessel standards is enabling Chinese suppliers to compete directly with European and North American manufacturers in global botanical processing markets at significantly lower capital cost.
A trusted industrial evaporator manufacturer with over three decades of engineering excellence, serving the global herbal extract, pharmaceutical, and food processing industries.
Jiangsu Zongheng Concentration & Drying Equipment Co., Ltd. (formerly Yixing Yangxi Light Industry Machinery Factory), founded in 1992, is located in Zhoutie Town, Yixing City, on the shores of the beautiful Taihu Lake. The company covers an area of over 54,000 square meters, with a production workshop area of over 22,000 square meters.
Jiangsu Zongheng is a modern high-tech enterprise specializing in the manufacturing of concentration, drying, starch industry, alcohol DDGS, and Category III medium & low-pressure vessel equipment. It is currently a member enterprise of the China Starch and Alcohol Association. Its products are widely used in industries such as food fermentation, alcohol, chemical, pharmaceutical, environmental protection, and petrochemical.
The company's other main products include Tube Bundle Dryers, with design and manufacturing capabilities reaching 1600m² (making it a primary manufacturer of large tube bundle dryers). Other main products such as Single Screw Fiber & Germ Dehydrators and Wash Cyclones are recognized as high-quality products by starch manufacturers and the industry. High-quality products and a sincere service attitude have won consistent praise and trust from numerous users at home and abroad, fully demonstrating the company's first-class technical advantages and manufacturing capabilities for large-scale equipment.
Jiangsu Zongheng is always committed to exploration and innovation. Through years of sincere effort and user support, it has achieved sustained development. Main products include evaporation plants, comprising Multi-Effect Evaporators, Thermal Vapor Recompressors (TVR), Waste Heat Evaporators, and Mechanical Vapor Recompressors (MVR, achieving minimal unit energy consumption). These are widely used for liquid concentration, including distillates, alcohol stillage, ammonium sulfate, corn steep liquor, itaconic acid, threonine, starch sugar, sorbitol, glucose, fructose, trehalose, erythritol, organic wastewater, high-salinity wastewater, etc., making the company one of the domestic manufacturers with the most extensive product variety.
In March 2002, the company took the lead in obtaining ISO9001:2015 international quality system certification (Certificate No.: 45021), establishing a complete quality assurance system aligned with international standards. In July 2007, it became a Jiangsu Provincial High-Tech Enterprise. In April 2009, the company obtained the Special Equipment Manufacturing License of the People's Republic of China (License No.: TS2232C42). In August 2012, it acquired the ASME "U" Stamp authorization, marking the company's entry into a new phase of development. The company possesses strong R&D capabilities and advanced manufacturing processes, currently employing over 3 senior engineers and more than 20 engineers and assistant engineers. Multiple innovative technologies have been patented, and many products hold leading positions domestically.
The company currently holds an absolutely leading position in evaporation technology and has extensive cooperation with many renowned large domestic group companies, including Zhuofeng Biology, Meihua Group, Yufeng Group, Yihai Kerry, North China Pharmaceutical Group, Harbin Pharmaceutical Group, Shouguang Juneng, Qilu Pharmaceutical, Qiyuan Pharmaceutical, Xiwang Group, Shengtai Biology, Zhejiang Huakang, Kelun Pharmaceutical (Yili), and Shandong Tianli.
While meeting domestic market demand, the company's DDGS alcohol equipment and tube bundle dryer series products have been exported to Russia and Southeast Asian markets.
We are capable of providing professional technical support and after-sales service nationwide for our vast user base. High-quality products and their unique solutions not only enhance our corporate economic benefits but also bring us satisfaction by solving processing challenges for our clients.
We warmly welcome friends from various industries, both domestic and international, to visit us for cooperation and mutual development!
Explore Our Evaporator SolutionsExplore our full range of evaporation and drying equipment engineered for herbal extract, essential oil, and botanical concentrate production.
