A study of SO2 Removal Efficiency from Traditional Herbal Medicine Using Traditional & Electronic Medicine Boilers

The purpose of this study is to determine the most efficient method of removing sulfur dioxide from traditional herbal medicine (hanyak) by slow boiling using a traditional pipkin and an electronic slow boiler. By boiling a hanyak batch containing 156.4ppm of sulfur dioxide for one hour using a traditional pipkin, 96.7 percent of the sulfur dioxide was removed, while two hours of slow boiling removed 100 percent. Among different cover materials placed over the pipkin during the slow boiling process including the traditional Korean paper (hanji), regular hanji, filter paper and regular paper, the traditional hanji produced the best performance of sulfur dioxide removal. The initial pH level of the traditional hanji was 10.03. After one hour of slow boiling hanyak batches in a traditional pipkin covered with traditional hanji, where each batch contained sulfur dioxide of 48ppm, 193ppm, 753ppm and 1,506ppm respectively, the pH level of the hanji cover material was reduced to 9.37, 9.14, 8.9 and 8.03 in respective cases. Our experiment using an electronic medicine slow boiler showed 82.8 percent removal of sulfur dioxide after one hour of slow boiling a hanyak batch containing 753ppm of sulfur dioxide. When hanyak batches were boiled by placing traditional hanji, filter paper, active carbon and hardwood charcoal separately in the middle area within the electronic slow boiler, the sulfur dioxide removal rate was 73.6 percent, 72.8 percent, 73.9 percent and 69.5 percent, respectively. When charcoal was added so as to remove toxic materials from the hanyak, its presence impeded the sulfur dioxide flow and thus reduced the removal efficiency contrary to our anticipation.