At the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, a research group, led by Prof Proshanta Guha of the Agricultural and Food Engineering Department, has developed a novel betel leaf oil extraction technology. The extractor is capable of saving 44 per cent of the time and 30 per cent of the energy necessary while increasing the oil yield by more than 16 per cent, as compared to the current process and equipment popularly used, the institute said.
According to IIT Kharagpur, India produces betel leaves worth Rs 9,000 million per year. But, a minimum of 10 per cent of the produce is wasted every year and a large portion remains unsold or sold at throwaway prices during the excess period.
The extractor equipment is supposed to check such wastage and channel the excess for various industrial products. “Extraction of this essential oil from fresh and cured betel leaves is of high interest for industrial applications including medicines, cosmetics chewable mouth freshener which has a very large market in the world,” the institute said.
The equipment can obtain essential oil from other organic materials as well, Prof Guha said.
Defining the equipment, Prof Guha said, “It is a distillation unit with special modifications for recycling evaporated water which carries the vapors of essential oil from the distillation flask to the condensation unit. It has also a special device to minimize the formation of emulsion for increasing the recovery of essential oil.”
“This could be easily maintained by the small farmers and would also be sufficient for the processing of surplus leaves in any average-sized Boroj (~0.02 ha) on a daily or weekly basis. About 10-20 ml of essential oil can be extracted by one person a day using an extractor in three shifts. The price of the oil varies from Rs 30,000 to about Rs1,00,000 depending upon the quality of the oil…” Prof Guha added.
Post Your Comments