Executive Summary
This report presents the design for a Barclays Lab designed hydrosol production facility, producing 100 liters of lavender hydrosol per operating day. This startup facility is configured as a batch production unit with electric heating, sanitary handling, and a modular arrangement that can be readjusted as demand grows.
​
The selected process is a compact steam-distillation and condensation system composed of a 200 L stainless steel still, electric heater, condenser, oil separator, hydrosol collection tank, transfer pumps, and downstream filtration and packaging support. The design philosophy prioritizes operability, maintainability, and safety for the product to be suitable for cosmetic and/or household usage.
​
The current design uses equipment classes that are commercially available now, keeps utilities minimal, fits within a small industrial unit, and provides a neat path for easy expansion. In a standard run, the plant completes one daily batch, fills product into sanitary storage or packaging vessels, and supports trace essential-oil separation where feasible.
​
At this scale the plant is large enough to supply early customers consistently, small enough for direct quality control, and modular enough to scale to 1,000 L/day by recreating the batch line, introducing stronger utilities, and additional manufacturing capacity.
Key Design Outcomes
Document Road-map
​
1. Project scope and design basis
2. Process description and operating philosophy
3. Throughput, cycle time, and process calculations
4. Equipment list and engineering specifications
5. Utilities, instrumentation, and control philosophy
6. Layout, hygienic zoning, quality, safety, and environmental provisions
7. Safety, Environmental, and Regulatory Considerations
8. Commercial Estimate and Business Case
9. Scale-Up Strategy and Implementation
Appendix A. Equipment datasheets
Appendix B. Final design assumptions and exclusions
Hydrosol process Design 100 L/day
Figure 1. Simplified process flow diagram forming the basis of the final Barclays Lab 100 L/day hydrosol facility.
1. Project Scope and Design Basis
1.1 Objective
The purpose of this report is to design a publishable engineering concept for a Lavender Hydrosol plant with a throughput of 100 L/day. The report selects equipment, fixes a commercial plant configuration, and provides a coherent design that can be shown to consumers, early investors, equipment manufacturers, and technical partners.
1.2 Product definition
The primary product is lavender hydrosol intended for cosmetic purposes, home fragrance, linen fabric, or botanical wellness applications. The process generates essential oil as a byproduct depending on feed stream quality and batch handling.
1.3 Capacity basis
The plant is sized for one 100L batch hydrosol per day. The design assumes roughly 20 operating days per month, corresponding to 2,000 L/month of salable product.
1.4 Feedstock basis
Hydrosol yield depends on harvesting condition, drying practice, and moisture content of the raw material. The facility is sized for the target liquid product than for a direct kg-to-L yield. For commercial planning, the unit is expected to process either fresh botanical charge or hydrated dried botanical material within the loading envelope of the selected still.
1.5 Design philosophy
The selected philosophy is industrial startup scalable plant. This means the facility must look and operate like a real production asset rather than a hobby still but must avoid unnecessary complexity that would delay launch. Equipment is sanitary, robust, and commercially recognizable. Utilities are compact. The layout supports GMP-like discipline even if the first facility is not yet a fully regulated pharmaceutical suite.
Final Design Basis Summary
2. Process Description and Operating Philosophy
2.1 Process overview
The process begins with loading lavender buds into the still, above a tank of water. The water is boiled through electrically supplied heat, either through an electric steam generator feeding the still jacket or through integrated electric elements supplied as part of the still package. The water vapor will go through the lavender buds and the aromatic vapor that rises from it passes to the condenser. Condensate is routed to an oil separator, and hydrosol is then stored for filtration and packaging.
2.2 Sequence of operations
1. Receive and inspect raw materials, verify lot identity, appearance, and moisture condition.
2. Prepare process water and load the still with the selected plant material and water supply.
​
3. Raise the system to operating temperature to begin vapor generation.
​
4. Route condensate through separator to collect hydrosol continuously in the finished-product tank.
​
5. Recover essential oil fraction, if present, from the separator interface or overflow arrangement.
​
6. Complete batch when hydrosol quality and volume target are reached.
​
7. Clean still, separator, transfer lines, and tank to prepare for the next operating day.
2.3 Operating philosophy
The plant is designed to produce one batch per day. This leaves room for raw-material handling, cleaning, and matches the reality of an early-stage premium botanical business where quality and repeatability matter more than throughput.
The stainless-steel equipment will be designed with ease of visual inspection and cleaning in mind. The process line must be understandable and visually coherent to operators, investors, and customers. The process also favors a fully condensing overhead system that protects aroma recovery, reduces vapor release to the room, and improves operator comfort.
2.4 Final process flow
The final flow path corresponds to the Process Flow Diagram (PFD) provided by Barclays Lab: feed and utility entry, primary heating service, still or tank operation, vapor transfer to a heat exchanger / condenser, liquid collection, oil separation, and finished hydrosol discharge. Minor instrumentation and service points are added in this report to convert the sketch into a functional production design.
Figure 2. Process Flow Diagram for the 100 L/day Barclays Lab hydrosol line.
3. Throughput, Cycle Time, and Design Calculations
3.1 Batch-cycle basis
3.2 Condensation-rate basis
To produce 100 L of hydrosol over a 3-hour main distillation window, the condenser must reliably condense approximately 33 L/h of aromatic vapor. Using water-like density, this corresponds to about 33 kg/h of condensed vapor.
3.3 Thermal estimate
A simplified thermal estimate provides the basis for condenser and electric-service sizing. Condensing 33 kg/h of mostly water vapor requires latent heat removal on the order of:
​
Q = 33 kg/h x 2,257 kJ/kg = 74,481 kJ/h = 20.7 kW
After adding sensible load, the report selects a heat duty of 25 kW for heating the water. This gives suitable margin against warm cooling water or input variability.
3.4 Cooling-water estimate
Assuming 25 kW heat duty and a 10 C cooling-water temperature rise:
m_cw = 25 kJ/s / (4.18 kJ/kg-C x 10 C) = 0.60 kg/s = 2200 L/h
The final design therefore specifies a practical cooling-water supply of 2500 to 3000 L/h to the condenser.
3.5 Working-volume logic
Although finished product is 100 L/day, the still must be larger than 100 L because it must hold process water, botanical solids, and vapor space simultaneously. A 200 L gross vessel with approximately 120 to 150 L practical liquid-and-biomass is selected as the appropriate startup size.