Edited by K. Tuley De Silva EDITOR K. TULEY DE SILVA PRESENTATIONS MADE BY THE RESOURCE PERSONS AT THE THIRD UNIDO WORKSHOP ON ESSENTIAL OIL AND AROMA CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES HELD AT THE ANADOLU UNIVERSITY MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC PLANT AND DRUG RESEARCH CENTRE IN ESKISEHIR, TURKEY NOVEMBER 1995 UNITED NATIONS lNDUSTRlAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION VIENNA, AUSTRIA Cover design by Dr. Ergun Tunckan THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THE PAPERS ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHORS’ AND DO NOT REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENTORGANIZATION (UNIDO). MENTION OF FIRM NAMES AND COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS DOES NOT IMPLY THE ENDORSEMENT OF THE SECRETARIAT OF UNIDO. CONTENTS FOREWORD CHAPTER 1. Development of Essential Oil Industries in Developing Countries 1 Dr. K. Tuley De Silva CHAPTER 2. Agrotechnology of Aromatic Plants 13 Dr. K. K. S. Bhat CHAPTER 3. The Isolation of Aromatic Materials from Natural Plant Products 57 Dr. Brian M. Lawrence CHAPTER 4. Analysis and Quality Assessment of Essential Oils 155 Professor K. Husnu Can Baser CHAPTER 5. Formulation and Evaluation of Fragrance for Perfumery, Cosmetics 179 and Related products Dr. Wladyslaw S. Brud CHAPTER 6. Commercialization of Essential Oils and Aroma Chemicals 203 Dr. N. Verlet FOREWORD Many developing countries are rich in aromatic plants and this renewable resource could be industrially utilized to produce essential oils for economic benefit. UNIDO has been actively assisting developing countries to establish or upgrade essential oil industries. Many countries have increased their share of the export market in this commodity while diversifying the use of essential oils in local food and fragrance industries. UNIDO organised workshops and seminars on the industrial utilization of medicinal and aromatic plants to update the know how of scientific and technical personnel of developing countries. In fact three workshops on the essential oil industry alone have been held during the past two decades. The first resulted in the publication of a Practical Manual on the Essential Oil Industry which proved to be very useful to scientists and technologists engaged in the production of essential oils. The third workshop which was held in Eskisehir in Turkey in collaboration with the Government of Turkey and the Anadolu University Medicinal and Aromatic Plant and Drug Research Centre, extended the coverage to aroma chemicals and marketing as well. It provided the opportunity for scientists from least developed countries to learn from the experiences of the resource persons and exchange information amongst them. It is a fact that the developing countries face difficulties in gaining access to new developments in technologies and analytical techniques as a result of lack of funds to purchase recent books and journals. UNIDO has contributed in a small measure to disseminate some of the much needed technical information by holding workshops and by publishing manuals on specific subjects. The presentations made by the resource persons at the third UNIDO workshop on essential oil and aroma chemical industries are published in this manual. It includes the latest developments in the essential oil industry. I hope that this manual will serve the scientists and technologists of developing countries to initiate programmes to develop essential oil industries in their countries. I thank the resource persons who readily agreed to share their knowledge and experiences by contributing to this manual. The practical know how included in this manual will enable countries rich in aromatic plants to set up rural based small scale essential oil industries which would contribute to biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. Dr. A. Tcheknavorian-Asenbauer Managing Director Industrial Sectors and Environment Division United Nations Industrial Development Organization Vienna International Centre Austria CHAPTER 1 DEVELOPMENT OF ESSENTIAL OIL INDUSTRIES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES TULEY DE SILVA Chemical Industries Branch Industrial Sectors and Environment Division United Nations Industrial Development Organization 1. INTRODUCTION Developing countries are endowed with vast resources of aromatic plants which have been used by their people for centuries as food, health care products, flavours and fragrances. Apart from the traditional ways of using these plants, many are exported to industrialized countries as raw materials for drugs, fragrances and flavours. The value-added products are then imported back costing the countries several times more than the original revenue gained from exporting the raw materials. The actual value of these resources has not been retained in many countries for want of know how and trained manpower. Only a few developing countries are producing essential oils and even some of these countries are unable to produce good quality conforming to international specifications. With some exceptions, harvesting aromatic plants in developing countries for both local use and export has been from natural wild resources. As a result many plant species have been lost and some are in danger of extinction. It has also caused biodiversity conservation problems. It is therefore vital that systematic cultivation of these plants be introduced in order to conserve the biodiversity and protect endangered species. Systematic cultivation of this type of plants could only be initiated if there is a continuous demand for the raw materials. Hence small scale processing units too have to be established in order the farmer is assured of a market for the raw material. Thus cultivation and processing should be started simultaneously in rural areas. The lack of information on the social and economic benefits to be derived from the industrial utilization of aromatic plants has been a major factor impeding the development of the essential oils industry in the developing countries. Except for the use of these plants for domestic purposes, not much information was available on the market potential and trading possibilities. As a result, the real potential of these plants was not known to the governments or the entrepreneurs. Furthermore inventories on the types of useful plants and their abundance are not available for assessing the possibilities for their industrial utilization. Today the promotion and development of plant based products have gained momentum due to certain ground realities: Green consumerism and the current resurgence on the use of “Naturals” in developed countries which has given a fresh impetus to the development of plant based products. Free market economy bringing in more openness and expanding markets and demand for new resources, materials and products. A growing acceptability of the social responsibility of minimizing socio-economic inequalities in favour of rural people resulting in opening up of additional job and income opportunities for the poor people. Poor economic conditions in developing countries restricting imports thereby placing increasing reliance on substitutes using indigenous plant resources. 2 Increasing awareness regarding biodiversity conservation and therefore sustainable and protective use of plant resources. The growing demand in industrialized countries for natural products in place of synthetic compounds has created a niche market for essential oils. Furthermore the requirements of essential oils for use in aromatherapy is increasing, creating a demand for organically produced exotic oils. The development of the essential oils industry is therefore important to many developing countries which have rich resources of raw materials or the climatic conditions for the initiation of cropwise cultivation programmes. Though a lot of research has gone into synthetic substitutes for essential oils, the demand for natural oils has not declined. Hence the production of essential oils could still be a good source of foreign exchange revenue for developing countries. Even those countries which are producing essential oils have many constraints to be competitive in the world market. Some of the problems associated with the essential oils industry in developing countries are: Poor propagation and agricultural practices Poor raw materials due to indiscriminate harvesting and poor post harvest treatment Lack of research on development of high yielding varieties, domestication etc. Inefficient processing techniques leading to low yields and poor quality products Lack of quality control of raw materials, finished products and cGMP High energy losses during processing Insufficient R & D on product and process development Difficulties in marketing (lack of access to market information and contacts) Lack of downstream processing facilities Lack of trained personnel, equipment and up-to-date technologies Non availability of locally fabricated equipment Lack of commitment and support from governments Lack of financial resources, loans, credit facilities Synthetic substitutes have been produced from petrochemicals to compete with plant products such as resins, aroma chemicals, phytochemicals, rubber, leather etc. In the case of essential oils and flavours, real substitutes having all aroma characteristics of the natural products have not been fully accomplished. Nevertheless, the low cost and certain improvements on the natural, have given the synthetic chemicals a major share of the aroma chemicals market. Back to nature movement which has revived the interest on natural products will be beneficial for the developing countries which are endowed with vast resources of aromatic plants. The entry