Analysis of Fine Grinding Performance of Medicinal Herbs Used in
Pharmaceutical Applications from Laboratory Trails
Dr. J Phani Krishna1, Abhijit Warkhedkar2 Amol Shinde3
1Regional Business Head, Rieco Industries Limited, Pune
2Subject Matter Expert- Grinding Solutions, Rieco Industries Limited, Pune
3Manager, Engineering, Rieco Industries Limited, Pune.
Received: 03 December 2025; Accepted: 10 December 2025; Published: 19 December 2025
ABSTRACT
Herbal medicine is the use of plants to treat disease and enhance general health and wellbeing. Herbs are crucial
for medicine as natural sources of therapeutic compounds, offering holistic treatments, fewer side effects, and
supporting modern drug discovery, treating conditions from inflammation and heart issues to boosting immunity.
These herbs which are barks, stems etc need to pulverize to a powder form for consumption. The grinding of
medicinal herbs is a critical preprocessing step that influences the extraction efficiency, bioavailability, and
stability of active medical. This laboratory trails and study investigate the performance of size-reduction methods
choppers and hammers-based milling on commonly processed herbs such as Ashwagandha, Arjuna, Karakkaya,
Athimadhura. Particle-size distributions, time taken for pulverizing, retentions were analysed to evaluate the
relationship between grinding mechanisms and product quality.
Results demonstrate that conventional high-speed milling generates significant heat, accelerating volatile
compound loss and partial degradation of heat-sensitive constituents. The findings highlight the importance of
selecting appropriate pulverization technologies to balance throughput, energy consumption, and compound
internal structure. These insights support optimized processing strategies for herbal pharmaceuticals and high-
value botanical ingredients.
Key words: Herbs pulverizing, Hammer mills, medical applications.
Preface:
Four medical herbs been constituted for testing with pulverisers to achive the fineness to use in pharma
applications. Ashwagandha, Arjuna, Karakkaya, athimadhura. The details of respective herbs are as under.
Athimarudha (Dia.10mm X 20mm long Dia. 40mm X 60mm long. The botanical name of Athimadhuram is
Glycyrrhiza glabra. The root has a naturally sweet taste, which actually reflects the meaning of “Athimadhuram”
roughly “very sweet.”
Athimadhuram’s therapeutic effects are attributed to several bioactive constituents. According to descriptions
from Ayurvedic/herbal sources:
Glycyrrhizin: responsible for the characteristic sweetness; known to have anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and
soothing effects.
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