Clean Production of Commercial Freeze-Dried Powder for Medicinal and Nutritional Health Benefits

Suchada Chaisawadi, Waraporn Methawiriyasilp and Darawan Thongbute Process and Environment Analytical Service Center Pilot Plant Development and Training Institute King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi Bangkok 10140 Thailand

Tanong Chayawattana Engineering Section Pilot Plant Development and Training Institute King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi Bangkok 10140 Thailand

Keywords: d-limonin, traditional medicine

Abstract Lime ( aurantiforia Swingle) is one of the important medicinal used in Thailand’s traditional medicine. Lime and its derivatives including lime juice, lime peel and lime oil provides a whole range of medicinal properties. Especially, d-limonin from lime oil is suggested to have cancer-chemopreventive and anticarcinogenic properties, making it a potential candidate for industrial production for use as a medicinal herb. Technology has already been developed in which freeze-dried lime powder retains the same quality of fresh lime juice. Freeze- dried lime powder processing in this study includes lime powder processing, lime oil extraction and lime peel processing. The designed production process has considered the wastes from lime powder production process, which are the peels after squeezing and filtering off seeds. The waste utilization process has been divided into two sequential processes. The first one is lime oil extraction, done by squeezing oil from the lime peels and grinding the seeds, followed by steam extraction. The second process is lime peel processing using the peels obtained from the first process for the production of pickled lime, lime jam, lime marmalade or sweet lime. The residue of the ground seed and other wastes from the extraction process can be used as biopesticides or fertilizers. This process resulted in zero discharge by the end of the process. The clean production on freeze-dried lime powder processing has been implemented by the Pilot Plant Development and Training Institute, KMUTT. The results showed high productivity and low environmental impact. The preliminary study on financial analysis showed high feasibility for commercial production.

INTRODUCTION Lime (Citrus auranliforia Swingle), locally known as Ma-nao, is one of the important sources of plant-derived medicinal herbs used in Thailand. Because of the unique flavor and range of medicinal properties of lime and its derivatives, it has been used both for enhancing the of various Thai foods and is popular for use in Thai traditional medicine. Moreover, d-limonin the major constituent of lime oil in lime peel has been shown to have cancer-chemopreventive and anticarcinogenic properties (Crowel and Gould, 1994; Chaisawadi et al., 1998). Thousands of tons of this fruit are consumed yearly, indicating its importance in Thai agricultural economy. Although this fruit grows all year round in Thailand, it has a short period on low production causing a great demand during the time of scarcity. It is, therefore considered desirable to process lime juice to freeze-dried lime powder. The freeze-dried lime powder that retains the same quality as fresh lime juice has been developed (Chaisawadi et al., 2000). However additional

Proc. WOCMAP III, Vol. 5: Quality, Efficacy, Safety, Processing & Trade in MAPs Eds. E. Brovelli, S. Chansakaow, D. Farias, T. Hongratanaworakit, M. Botero Omary, S. Vejabhikul, L.E. Craker and Z.E. Gardner Acta Hort. 679, ISHS 2005 29 improvements in the clean production system can be made to increase productivity and decrease operating cost. Clean production using clean technology on commercial freeze- dried lime powder was designed by Allan in the early 90’s (Allan, 1992). Development of commercial production on lime juice processing to meet the zero discharge criteria were proposed. The main objective in this study was to investigate waste utilization on commercial freeze-dried lime powder processing resulting in high productivity.

MATERIALS AND METHODS Clean production of commercial freeze-dried lime powder has been designed (Fig. 1). The production process consists of the two main steps: a freeze dried lime powder process and the waste utilization process including lime oil extraction and lime peel processing (Fig. 2 and Fig. 3). This process set up as pilot plant and implemented by the Pilot Plant Development and Training Institute (PDTI), King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT). A washing machine, a lime juice extractor, a lime debittering machine and a lime oil extraction machine were purchased domestically or developed by KMUTT staff. Freeze-dried lime powder was produced by CHRIST customized freeze dryer model DELTA 1-24 KD. One ton of fresh lime fruits was utilized in this study. Limes were harvested at commercial export maturity and collected from Amphur Thayang, Petchburi province. Every part of the lime has a commercial use in food, medicinal herbs and nutritional health benefit products. A preliminary study on financial analysis was performed. All chemicals and materials used in this process were food grade.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION One ton of lime fruits produced 435 kg of lime juice, 12 kg of lime seed, 438 kg of lime peel and 115 kg of the mixture of lime juice and lime oil extracted from peels. The 435 kg of lime juice produced 60 kg of freeze-dried lime powder; 12 kg of lime seed and 115 kg of the mixture of lime juice and lime oil produced 2 L of lime essential oil, 8 kg of lime seed as biopesticide and 100 kg of fertilizers. 438 kg of lime peel produced 600 kg of lime peel processing products, for instance, pickled lime, sweet lime, salted cured lime, lime jam and marmalade. (Fig. 4 and Fig. 5). The designed process showed zero discharge with 500 L of water usage in the washing process and cleaning the plant. The water used in the process went through an on-site cleaning/filtering system and was recycled as irrigation water. The estimate investment cost of the project was 36.1 million baths. All data were included in the preliminary financial analysis. The results showed that the internal rate of return (IRR) of this project was 32% with a payback period (PP) of 2.91 years and a net present value (NPV) of 43 million baths at a require rate of return 8% (Table 1). The primary products of the pilot plant was freeze-dried lime powder which retained the same quality of fresh lime juice with high stability for at least one year in suitable package. The production process considered wastes from the lime powder processing process, including peels and filtered off seeds. All have a commercial use and nothing goes to waste. The waste utilization products are an important ingredient for traditional medicine and nutritional health products. Lime essential oil is used in aromatherapeutic products such as massage oil, body lotion, shampoo, and bath foam. Lime peel processing products are used as ingredients in health foods and Thai traditional medicine. Lime seed is used for biopesticides and the mixture of lime juice and lime oil from lime oil extraction process are used for fertilizer ingredients.

CONCLUSIONS The designed clean production of freeze-dried lime powder meets the zero discharge criteria with whole range of waste utilization on the demonstrated pilot plant. The high potential use of waste utilization products for nutritional health, medicinal herbs and aromatherapy have been shown. The results give high productivity and low environmental impact for the designed process. The preliminary financial analysis shows high feasibility. High potential for clean production of commercial freeze-dried lime

30 powder has been demonstrated.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We wish to thank the financial support of Thai Government Research Fund.

Literature Cited Allan, J. 1992. Clean technology. Lewis Publishers Inc. Boca Ralon, Fla. USA. Chaisawadi, S., Kaensap, W., Srichumpoung, W. and Nuangjaknin, J. 2000. Lime juice processing: potential for commercial production. Abstr. 26th Congr. on Science and Technology of Thailand, Queen Sirikit National Convention Center, Bangkok, Thailand, 18-20 Oct. p.622. Chaisawadi, S., Kulamai, S. and Thongbute, D. 1998. d-Limonin and lime oil: nutritional health benefits of lime components. Abstr. 24th Congr. on Science and Technology of Thailand, Queen Sirikit National Convention Center, Bangkok, Thailand, 19-21 Oct. p.468-469. Crowel, P.L. and Gould, M.N. 1994. Chemoprevention and therapy of cancer by d- limonene. Crit. Rev. Oncog. 5:1-22

31

Tables

Table 1. Preliminary study on financial analysis of clean production on commercial freeze-dried lime powder (one ton of raw materials/day).

project year (s) Items start up 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Income 1. Revenues 20,600,000 20,600,000 20,600,000 20,600,000 20,600,000 20,600,000 20,600,000 20,600,000 20,600,000 20,600,000 Total Income 20,600,000 20,600,000 20,600,000 20,600,000 20,600,000 20,600,000 20,600,000 20,600,000 20,600,000 20,600,000 Expense 1. Investment cost 36,100,000 2. Salary 864,000 915,840 970,790 1,029,037 1,090,780 115,226 1,225,600 1,299,136 1,377,084 1,459,710 3. Operating cost 7,300,000 7,300,000 7,300,000 7,300,000 7,300,000 7,300,000 7,300,000 7,300,000 7,300,000 7,300,000 4. Depreciation 3,610,000 3,610,000 3,610,000 3,610,000 3,610,000 3,610,000 3,610,000 3,610,000 3,610,000 3,610,000 Total Expense 36,100,000 11,774,000 11,825,840 11,880,790 11,939,037 12,000,780 11,025,226 12,135,600 12,209,136 12,287,084 12,369,710 (Net Profit) 36,100,000 8,826,000 8,774,160 8,719,210 8,660,963 8,599,220 9,574,774 8,464,400 8,390,864 8,312,916 8,230,290 (Depreciation) 3,610,000 3,610,000 3,610,000 3,610,000 3,610,000 3,610,000 3,610,000 3,610,000 3,610,000 3,610,000 (Net Cash Flow) 36,100,000 12,436,000 12,384,160 12,329,210 12,270,963 12,209,220 13,184,774 12,074,400 12,000,864 11,922,916 11,840,290 PAYBACK PERIOD 2.91 years INTERNAL RATE OF RETURN 32% NET PRESENT VALUE 42,995,259 at require rate of return 8%

32 Figures

FRESH LIMES

LIME PEEL PROCESSING

CLEANING & CUTTING & WASHING SQUEEZING LIME PEEL

ESSENTIAL OIL EXTRACTION ESSENTIAL OIL LIME JUICE

DEBITTERING FILTERING LIME SEED BIOPESTICIDE

FRESH LIME BINDING AGENT FREEZE LIME JUICE ADDING DRYER POWDER

Fig. 1. Designed process on clean production of commercial freeze-dried lime powder processing (Chaisawadi et al., 2001).

LIME PEEL LIME PEEL SQUEEZING

LIME JUICE AND LIME OIL LIME PEEL MIXTURE PROCESSING LIME SEED

LIME JUICE STEAM EXTRACTION BLENDING MIXTURE

FILTERING LIME OIL ESSENTIAL OIL FERTILIZER

LIME SEED AROMATHERAPEUTIC PRODUCTS

BIOPESTICIDE

Fig. 2. Lime oil extraction process (Chaisawadi et al., 2001).

33

LIME PEEL FROM OIL DEBITTERING PROCESS EXTRACTION PROCESS

LIME PEEL PROCESSING

LIME PEEL PROCESSING PRODUCTS

Fig. 3. Lime peel processing process (Chaisawadi et al., 2001).

One ton of fresh limes

Raw materials Products

• Lime juice 435 kg Freeze-dried lime powder 60 kg • Lime peel 438 kg Preserved lime peel products 600 kg

• Lime seed 12 kg aromatherapeutic Lime essential oil 2 L products

Lime seed “biopesticide” 8 kg • Mixture of lime juice 115 kg and Lime fertilizer 100 kg lime oil squeeze from peel

Fig. 4. Raw materials and products produce from one ton of fresh limes using the designed process and pilot plant set up by PDTI, KMUTT.

34

lime powder lime peel processing products

essential oil, aromatherapeutic products -

fertilizer lime seed biopesticide

Fig. 5. Lime products from demonstrated pilot plant including lime powder, essential oil, aromatherapeutic products, lime peel processing products, lime seed biopesticide and fertilizer.

35