Drinking tea can relieve greasiness and calm the mind, and the theanine in tea leaves plays an essential role. Data shows that theanine is a dietary supplement ingredient with strong growth momentum in recent years: L-theanine has a compound annual growth rate of 102% over the past five years.

The current market application status of theanine

Clinical trial studies have shown that daily intake of 400mg L-theanine, taken continuously for 6 weeks, can effectively improve the sleep rate and quality of boys with ADHD without adverse reactions. Daily intake of 200mg theanine can promote the production of alpha waves in the brain and improve the sleep quality of anxiety patients. With the continuous deepening of research on the pharmacology and physiological functions of theanine by researchers, many biological activities or physiological regulatory functions are constantly being discovered. Theanine has been applied in the development of functional foods aimed at relieving nerve tension.

How to separate theanine from tea?

Whether used as a food additive, dietary supplement, or food ingredient, high purity theanine is required. The purity requirement for theanine approved as a food ingredient in China is very low, as long as it exceeds 20%. But this is also much higher than the content in tea, which means that separating theanine is a prerequisite for achieving these uses.

Theanine is very stable and can withstand high temperatures, acids, and alkalis. During the long concentration and separation process, it can remain active and not decompose. So, various methods of concentrating and separating natural products can be rotated to gradually remove impurities and improve purity step by step. At present, there are three concentration and separation methods that can be used in industry: precipitation method, ion exchange resin method, and membrane separation method.

The extracts composed of microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (UF) or reverse osmosis (RO) are used for impurity removal, pectin removal, proteoglycan removal and dehydration concentration to effectively improve product quality, reduce energy consumption and reduce fixed assets investment; By utilizing the ultrafiltration interception liquid and residual phase during the extraction of tea polyphenols, theanine can be extracted, which can fully utilize resources and improve the economic benefits of investment. The entire extraction process is free of wastewater, waste residue, and exhaust gas, achieving the goal of clean production.

Compared with the traditional single extraction section, the Literide membrane concentration and separation equipment can significantly improve the extraction rate of the target product, and the resulting product has high purity, meets relevant standards, and is more economical and reasonable than traditional extraction processes.