1. Why extraction is important in food industry?

 Extraction is an example of a separation technique. It can split two

components, separate them apart.
 The objective of extraction is to recover valuable soluble components from
raw materials by primarily dissolving them in a liquid solvent, so that the
components can be separated and recovered later from the liquid.
 Extraction is applied to a wide variety of food products. Typical examples are:
• the extraction of sugar from sugar-beets or sugar-cane • the extraction of oil
from oilseeds and from virgin pomace • the extraction of coffee extract from
coffee beans • the extraction of caffeine from coffee beans • the extraction of
various other compounds such as proteins, pectins, vitamins, pigments,
essential oils, aroma compounds, flavour compounds etc. from many different
materials.
 It is also used for extracting oils from oilseeds. Oil from soybean, corn, and
rice bran cannot be separated by mechanical pressing, therefore, solvent
extraction is used for their recovery.
 Extraction of spice oils and natural flavor extracts has also been practiced in
the flavor industry. Interest in functional food additives used to fortify
formulated food products has led to the development of extraction systems to
separate useful ingredients from food processing waste and medicinal plants.
 Water extraction is used to remove caffeine from coffee beans, and water
extraction is used to prepare coffee and tea solubles for freeze or spray drying.
Supercritical fluid extraction has been found to be effective for decaffeinating
coffee and tea and for preparing unique flavor extracts from fruit and leaves of
plants.
2. Working mechanism of sand filter.
 Sand bed filters work by providing the particulate solids with many
opportunities to be captured on the surface of a sand grain. As fluid flows
through the porous sand along a tortuous route, the particulates come close
to sand grains. 
 As fluid flows through the porous sand along a tortuous route, the particulates
come close to sand grains. They can be captured by one of several
mechanisms:
i. Direct collision
ii. Vander walls force
iii. Surface charge attraction
iv. Diffusion.
 In addition, particulate solids can be prevented from being captured by surface
charge repulsion if the surface charge of the sand is of the same sign (positive
or negative) as that of the particulate solid.
  It is possible to dislodge captured particulates although they may be re-
captured at a greater depth within the bed. Finally, a sand grain that is already
contaminated with particulate solids may become more attractive or repel
addition particulate solids.
  This can occur if by adhering to the sand grain the particulate loses surface
charge and becomes attractive to additional particulates or the opposite and
surface charge is retained repelling further particulates from the sand grain.