Detailed Project Report on aloevera cultivation and processing

Aloe Vera Processing - an overview

ALOE, native to Africa, is also known as “lily of the desert”, the “plant of immortality”, and the “medicinal plant”. The name was derived from the Arabic alloeh meaning “bitter”, because of the bitter liquid found in the leaves. Aloe Vera is perennial succulents plant with turgid green leaves joined at the stem in rosette pattern. It produces flowers and seeds from root structure year after year. The yellow to purplish drooping flowers grow in a long raceme at the top of the flower stalk as is shown in Fig.1. Three major parts of Aloe Vera are outer rind, gel and sap.

More than 250 species of Aloes are present in the world. Aloes have some medicinal or commercial value, the most commonly known is the Aloe Barbadensis better known as Aloe vera. All Aloes are is grown in the areas where there is no chance of freezing, because it contains 95% water in the leaf. In some species leaves can grow up to 75cm in length and up to 1.2-2 Kg in weight. Today’s consumers in the cosmetic, food, and beverage market are increasingly interested in healthy life-styles, a trend that has produced a skyrocketing demand for health-oriented products. The current worldwide popularity of Aloe vera gel is an example of this trend.

Cultivation Process

A\loe Vera can be cultivated on any soil for ‘dry land management’, sandy loamy soil. Aloe Vera is generally propagated by root suckers by carefully digging out without damaging the parent plant and planting it in the main field. It can also be propagated through rhizome cuttings, by digging out the rhizomes after the harvest of the crop and making them into 5-6 cm length cuttings with a minimum of 2-3 nodes on them. They are then rooted in specially prepared sand beds or containers. As Aloe Vera is succulent plant it is more responsive to nutrients. However, the excess doses of chemical nutrient as well as improper sources can show negative effect of quality. Organic manures are more effective in Aloe Vera growth and yield which is comparable to chemical fertilizer (Saha et al., 2005). In addition organic manures enhance a good leaf quality. So, it may necessary to find out a suitable recommendation for manuring in Aloe Vera farming. The plant is ready for transplanting after the appearance of the first sprouts.

Chemical and nutritional qualities of Aloe Vera
The Aloe leaf contains over 75 nutrients and 200 active compounds (Davis, 1997), including 20 minerals, 18 amino acids, and 12 vitamins. More importantly, it provides 7 out of the 8 essential amino acids that the body cannot synthesise (Morgan et al., 1987).  It is rich in all vitamins excluding Vitamin D, especially the antioxidant Vitamins A (beta-carotene), C and E and even contains a trace of Vitamin B12 (Coats, 1979). Calcium, Sodium Potassium, Manganese, Magnesium, Copper, Zinc, Chromium and the anti-oxidant Selenium are present in Aloe vera. Sugars are derived from the mucilage layer of the plant, which surrounds the inner gel, and are known as mucopolysaccharides, which enhance the immune system and help to detoxify (Gowda et al., 1979). There are twelve of these Phenolic compounds, which are found exclusively in the plant sap. Saponins are soapy substances that form about 3% of the Aloe vera gel.

Processing of Aloe Vera
Traditional Hand Filleted Aloe Vera: The pericyclic cells located at the top of the vascular bundles contains a yellow liquid called ‘the yellow sap’ or ‘Latex’. This material contains high concentrations of aloin and similar anthraquinones, which exert a powerful laxative action. In order to avoid contaminating the internal fillet with the yellow sap, the traditional hand- filleting method of processing Aloe Leaves was developed. Extraction of Aloe Vera gel by hand scraping method is shown in Fig.3. In this method, the Lower 1” of the leaf base (the white part attached to the large rosette stem of the plant), the tapering point (2-4”) of the leaf top, and the short, sharp spines located along the leaf margins are removed by a sharp knife, then the knife, is introduced into the mucilage layer below the green rind avoiding the vascular bundles, and the top rind is removed. The bottom rind is similarly removed, and the rind parts, to which a significant amount of mucilage remains attached, are discarded. Another portion of the mucilage layer is accumulated on the top of the filleting table. This is of critical concern because the highest concentration of potentially beneficial Aloe constituents are found in this mucilage, as this layer represents the constituents synthesized by the vascular bundle cells empowered by energy developed in the green (chlorophyll- containing) rind cells through sun-induced photosynthesis. The materials of the mucilage layer, subsequent to their synthesis, are distributed to the storage cells (cellulose-reinforced hexagons) of the fillet, a process that is accompanied by dilution owing to the water (the major fillet constituent), which is stored in the fillet cells. The fillet consists of more than 99% water.
Whole Leaf Aloe: In this process, the base and tip are removed as previously delineated, and then the leaf is cut into sections and ground into particulate slurry. The material is then treated with, special chemical products which break down the hexagonal structure of the fillet releasing the constituents, by means of a series of coarse and screening filters, or passage through a juice press, the rind particles are removed, the expressed juice is then passed through various filtering columns which remove the undesirable laxative agents. This process, performed properly, can produce a constituent-rich juice (generally containing three times or more constituents than Hand Filleted juice), which should be virtually free of the laxative anthraquinones.
Total Process Aloe: Aloe leaves are hand filleted by the traditional, old fashioned, labour intensive method. Then the green rinds and the mucilage layer from the tabletop are processed by a newly developed proprietary methodology. A combination of the products produced by these two procedures produces an aloe product called Total Process Aloe, which contains, as in the chart, an enviably high concentration of desirable constituents, which are virtually free of undesirable laxative anthraquinones. Total Process Aloe contains considerably higher concentrations of Total Solids, Calcium, Magnesium, and Malic Acid, the major parameters of quality utilized and recommended by the International Aloe Science Council for certification.

Vital unit operations in processing of Aloe Vera
Reception of raw materials: Aloe Vera leaves, after harvesting, were transported in refrigerated vans from the field to the processing place. The leaves should be sound, undamaged, mold/rot free and matured (3-4 years) in order to keep all the active ingredients in full concentration. One important factor that must be considered is the handling/treatment of the leaves after its harvesting because the decomposition of the gel matrix occurs on cutting due to natural enzymatic reactions and the activity of bacteria that are normally present on the leaves. This degradative process can adversely affect the quality of the end product. Therefore, there is a need to carefully work towards refrigerating the freshly removed leaves within 4-6 h or get the raw material directly into production. Quality of a batch of Aloe leaves can be checked by visual inspection.
Filleting operation: In order to avoid the decomposition of the biological activity, the filleting operation must be completed within 36 h of harvesting the leaves (Robert, 1997). In fact, it was shown that the aloe gel, once extracted from the leaf, had greater stability than the gel left in the leaf.
Grinding/homogenization: The major steps in this process include crushing or grinding. The aloe gel fillets should be crushed and homogenized using a commercial high-speed tissue crusher at room temperature (25°C). The longer the crushing/grinding time the higher the browning index in Aloe vera gel juice (Liu, 2001). Therefore, crushing or grinding should be shortened within 10-20 min in order to avoid the enzymatic browning reaction of Aloe vera gel.
Addition of pectolytic enzyme: Enzymatic treatment of Aloe vera gel for a long duration prior to processing is detrimental to biologically active compound such as polysaccharide, which is the single most important constituent in aloe. Enzyme treatment at 50°C and within 20 min did not induce the loss of biological activity of polysaccharide in Aloe vera gel.
Filtration: This operation influences on the stability of Aloe vera gel juice. For example, the product showed the sedimentation of particles as the filtration operation lost its control.
Addition of vitamin C and citric acid: The unpasteurized aloe gel juice was fortified with vitamin C and citric acid to avoid browning reaction, to improve the flavour of Aloe vera gel juice and to stabilize the juice (Eison-Perchonok and Downes 1982; Kacem et al., 1987; Kennedy et al., 1992; Tramell et al., 1986). The pH of aloe gel juice was adjusted between 3.0 and 3.5 by adding citric acid to improve the flavour of Aloe vera gel juice.
Dearation: The aim of dearation step is to avoid the oxidation of ascorbic acid (Chan and Cavaletto, 1986.), which eventually improves
The shelf life of the Aloe vera gel juice.
Pasteurization: HTST treatment (at 85-95°C for 1-2 min) is an effective method to avoid the bad flavour and the loss of biological activity of the Aloe vera gel (Eshun, 2003).
Flash cooling: After pasteurization, the juice is flash cooled to 5°C or below within 10-15 sec. This is a crucial step to preserve biological activity of the Aloe vera gel.
Storage: Relative humidity and temperature are two most important environmental parameters that affect product quality. Those two parameters can also affect the amount of the volatile substances of the juice absorbed by the packaging material (Hernadez and Giacin, 1998) and consequently, affect the shelf life of the product

Value addition of Aloe Vera
Health drink: Aloe Vera juice having more vitamins and minerals so it is used as a health drink (Blumenthal, 1998). It protects the mucous membrane of the stomach
especially when irritated or damaged.
Medicine: Aloe Vera promotes and accelerates the tissue healing process.It also helps to stop the overproduction of stomach acids which may lead to heartburn. It has anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal, anti-yeast and anti-parasitic effects. It helps to increase blood circulation throughout the body and aids in blood sugar balancing and stops the bleeding, damage and leakage of the intestine wall, thereby taking the stress off the immune system.
It will helps in fueling all bodily systems through the promotion of proper digestion, absorption and assimilation of foods and nutrients.
Cosmetic: The effectiveness of Aloe Vera gel as a cosmetic skin care and pharmaceutical product is indisputable. The gel stimulates cell growth and moisturizes the skin. The voluminous research shows clearly that the gel reduces scarring in burns, skin ulcers, psoriasis (Syed et al., 1996) and other lesions.

Recent development in Aloe Vera processing
Desiccant Dehydration Process: This system employs a low-tech procedure used for many years to dehydrate foods. The pure intact aloe fillets are first washed so that the first remaining aloin is removed. Then they are placed into a desiccant dehydration chamber where desired level of relative humidity and temperatures are maintained. Here the desiccant air is passed over the fillets to dry them. This material is then ground to powder and packed. By using this several important objectives are achieved. There is no concentration of the aloe gel. There by eliminating one step of the process. When the aloe is gently dried in the natural fillet form, the macromolecules do not break down like they do with mechanical pressing. When such the powder is re-hydrated, it comes back to its natural slippery form. It is generally believed that these delicate macromolecules are responsible for many Aloe veras’ proteins. Because there is no need to pre-treat or pre-concentrate the aloe, there are no residual preservatives present in the final powder.
Qmatrix Process (Aloecorp) Qmatrix drying includes microwave and radio frequency drying. Microwave and radio frequency drying are not appropriate for aloe as they can deacetylate aloe polysaccharides and denature proteins. For high quality foods, freeze-drying is traditionally used but it is relatively expensive (up to 10 times that of forced air dryers) and is limited to relatively small throughputs. Spray drying can be used for large throughput but the quality of the resultant product is inferior to that produced by freeze-drying due to volatile losses and heat damage. The Qmatrix process is a novel proprietary method of dehydration in enabling the dehydration of aloe while maintaining its integrity with respect to flavour, colour and nutrients. It is comparable to freeze drying in quality aspects but without the high operation costs.
 

MARKET  SURVEY CUM  DETAILED  TECHNO
ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY  REPORT

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Introduction
Uses and  Applications
Properties
Market   Survey  with   future   aspects
Present Manufacturers
Detailed  Process of  Manufacture
Formulations
B.I.S. Specifications
Process Flow Sheet Diagram, Plant  Layout,
Cost  Economics  with Profitability Analysis
Capacity
Land  & Building  Requirements with Rates
List & Details  of  Plant  and Machinery with their Costs
Raw Materials Details/List and Costs
Power & Water Requirements
Labour/Staff Requirements
Utilities and  Overheads
Total  Capital  Investment
Turnover
Cost  of Production
Break  Even Point
Profitability
Land  Man  Ratio
Suppliers  of  Plant & Machineries and Raw Materials
Cash  Flow Statement
Repayment  Schedule
Interest  Chart
Depreciation Chart
Projected Balance Sheet for 5 Years etc.