The "Catalogue of Cosmetic Ingredients in Use (2021 Edition)" includes a total of 8,965 cosmetic ingredients that are produced and sold within China, among which there are over 3,400 plant-based ingredients. The application of plant extracts as cosmetic raw materials is becoming increasingly widespread. Plant extracts not only have multiple functions but are also favored by consumers for their natural and safe characteristics.

Common plant extracts, such as aloe vera extract, have excellent lubricating and moisturizing effects, and can also reduce inflammation and promote the healing of damaged skin. Centella asiatica extract has antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, can promote blood circulation, increase skin thickness, and is suitable for rough, cracked skin and lip care. Ginseng extract: can promote skin function, increase skin vitality, and has anti-aging and anti-wrinkle effects, especially suitable for dry and sensitive skin. Green tea extract: rich in tea polyphenols, has antioxidant, pH regulation, and sebum secretion inhibition effects. Licorice extract: has anti-inflammatory, soothing, detoxifying, antibacterial, whitening, and anti-aging effects. Glycyrrhiza glabra extract: widely used in the cosmetics field due to its excellent moisturizing, repairing, and anti-aging effects. Paeonia suffruticosa root bark extract: has significant whitening effects. These plant extracts are widely used in moisturizers, soothers, cleansers, whitening agents, and other types of cosmetics.

With the increasing maturity of plant callus culture technology, the content of active ingredients in callus culture products has significantly increased. Due to the lack of source restrictions, callus culture product extracts are also finding more and more applications.

The extraction and purification process of plant extracts usually includes the following steps:

(1) Raw material pretreatment: including cleaning, decontamination, drying, and grinding, to ensure the purity of the raw materials and the efficiency of extraction.

(2) Extraction: solvent extraction uses water or organic solvents to soak or heat to extract active ingredients from plants; ultrasonic extraction uses ultrasonic vibration to break down plant cell walls and accelerate the release of effective components.

(3) Separation and purification: including precipitation, membrane filtration, extraction, column chromatography, and other methods to remove impurities and increase the purity of the target components.

(4) Concentration and drying: through membrane concentration, vacuum evaporation, or spray drying, etc., to remove excess solvents and make the extract into powder or granules.

(5) For water-based products, they are usually used after direct extraction and purification without the need for concentration and drying steps, which can better preserve the effective components and exert greater functions.

Due to the requirements of downstream products for the purity, content, clarity, and stability of plant extracts, membrane filtration technology is playing an increasingly important role in the purification of water-soluble plant extracts.

Applications of membrane filtration technology - ceramic membranes, ultrafiltration membranes, nanofiltration membranes

- Clarification filtration: removing visible suspended matter and flocs to obtain a clear solution.

- Improving shelf life stability: removing large molecules to prevent the formation of suspended matter and extend the shelf life.

- Increasing component content: removing large molecule polysaccharides, proteins, and colloidal substances, etc.

- Increasing component content: retaining effective components and passing through and removing ineffective small molecule components.

- Increasing the concentration of effective components: high multiple concentration of water-soluble effective components in the extract.

- Removing inorganic salts: removing inorganic salt components from plant culture or extraction solutions to improve the stability of downstream formulations.

- Grading filtration of effective components: size grading based on molecular weight, such as the grading filtration of tannins, etc.

Membrane filtration technology plays a significant role in the separation and purification of plant extracts. Bonnatech is dedicated to the development of membrane application processes and the manufacturing of membranes and equipment. It has accumulated rich process and engineering experience in the purification of products such as dendrobium extract (cultured), centella asiatica extract, anthocyanin extract, epimedium extract, ginseng extract, chamomile SOD extract, rose extract, sea fennel extract (cultured), tanshinone extract, golden mushroom extract, burdock extract, black tea extract, licorice extract, puerarin extract, safflower extract, and jujube leaf extract. It helps customers optimize processes in extract clarification, purification, and concentration, accelerate project progress, and improve product quality to bring products to market earlier.