GUWAHATI: Researchers
of the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG) have developed a low-cost
membrane technology to produce psychoactive drugs and anti-aging compounds from
wide range of agricultural resources like camellia sinensis, citrus fruits and
peels especially orange peels, berries, ginkgo biloba, parsley, pulses, tea,
sea buckthorn and onions.
The technology is patented and developed by Professor Mihir Kumar Purkait, Head, Centre for the Environment, and Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Guwahati along with his M Tech student Mr V L Dhadge. The low-cost technology doesn't use any organic solvents.
The health-related bene?ts of psychoactive drugs (caffeine) and anti-aging compounds (?avonoids) attributed to stimulating detoxi?cation of enzyme activity and inhibition of cell invasion and angiogenesis. Because of medicinal applications, ?avonoid components have gained popularity as ingredients in pharmaceutical industry. These are also found in smaller amount in bamboo leaves, grapes, apples, and other natural sources, stated a release.
While explaining the process about how the technology works, Professor Mihir Kumar Purkait, said, "The developed technology is exclusively pore/particle size based pressure driven membrane separation process. The water extracts of above mentioned plants/fruits/leaves at optimum operating conditions are passed through a specially made cascade membrane units of fabricated with appropriate molecular weight cut off (MWCO) membranes capable of separating targeted flavonoids selectively. Permeate and retentive part from appropriate membrane unit is then fridge dried to get the powdered product. We have synthesized stimuli responsive smart membrane for the selective separation and purification of targeted compound from the mixture of plants or leaves or fruits extract in simple water".
India is the largest consumer (20% of the global production) and second-largest producer of camellia sinensis. The developed technology will support the "Make in India" initiative of the Government of India by producing these compounds in the country. This will definitely reduce the import of said polyphenolic compounds. Implementation of the said technology will also create job opportunities in the agriculture sector of the country, the release added.
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