The Science and Technology Entrepreneur Park at the Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur has developed 'laboratory scale technology' for extraction of polyphenol from green tea leaves, which has become popular as a raw material for the pharmaceuticals and cosmetics industries. The price of polyphenol powder could be between Rs 1,000-5,000 per gm.
Polyphenols, polymers of phenol, have the property of reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer.
N R Mondal, managing director, STEP and professor in the department of ocean engineering and naval architecture of IIT-Kharagpur said that the recently developed technology could be used to extract five gm of polyphenol powder from one kg of tea leaves.
"The conventional extraction process uses toxic solvent for extraction of polyphenol. But the new process will use membrane separation technology, which is not only energy efficient but will no longer use of toxic solvents," he explained.
"Polyphenol is slowly becoming popular as a raw material for the drug and pharma and cosmetics industries due to its anti-oxidant and anti-carcinogenic properties. Once the market is assured, it will become a profitable venture," he explained.
Japan and China are the major suppliers exporting mainly to the US and Europe.
Most of the Indian drug and pharmaceutical companies import it from Japanese suppliers, said Mondal.
The new technology would enable extraction of polyphenol powder up to 60 per cent purity level and hence would be of highest quality, he assured.
Mondal said that the average cost involved to set up project with a capacity of producing 100 gm of polyphenol powder per day would be around Rs 20 lakh (rs 2 million), of which Rs 15 lakh (Rs 1.5 million) would be equipment cost and the remaining for raw materials for one year.
"This can emerge as a profitable business proposition for small and medium enterprises as the return would be very high, provided a decent market size can be assured. Looking at the current scenario, it may not be very attractive for large companies because of lack of assured market size," he added.
Apart from green tea, polyphenol is also found in olive oil, pomegranate, few vegetables and fruits.