Research

Agricultural Sciences

Title :

Development of an efficient and cost-effective process for production of Caffeine and Tannis from Tea Waste

Area of research :

Agricultural Sciences, Chemical Sciences

Focus area :

Petrochemicals, Coal Waste/Biomass to Chemicals

Principal Investigator :

Dr Bipul Das, Scientist, CSIR-North East Institute of Science and Technology (CSIR-NEIST), Assam

Timeline Start Year :

2020

Timeline End Year :

2022

Contact info :

Details

Executive Summary :

Objective: Characterization of raw material, product and residue; To develop a cost-effective process for production of 1 kg per batch caffeine and tannin from tea waste; Development of value-added products from the tea waste residue remained after extraction of caffeine and tannin; Technology know-how package preparation for 50 kg/day caffeine and tannin production

Summary: Caffeine and tanin are two most high valued products to use of different indutrial applications. Caffeine is a drug intermidiate for the production of wide range of pharmaceutical formulations and tanin is a bio-phenol with excellent antioxiant properties that can be widely used in industry as a green and sustainable raw material. Tannin has a wide range of applications such as leather tanning, adhesive and coating (especially wood adhesives), fieshies, bevarages manifacturing, animal feed, Corrosion inhibitors in metal industry, and many others. Tannin is added several times during winemaking to give color stability, protection against oxidation, odor and mouth-feel, proteic material precipitation and flavor improvement. In India, the estimated demand of caffeine in soft drinks is more than 0.392 Million kg/annum. The global tanin market size was estimated at 1,076.3 Kilotons and market by product in the U.S. was 284.4 kilotons in 2015 and is expected to grow significantly over the forecast period. Tea waste is the important source of raw materials for production of caffiene and tannins. India is one of the Leading tea production country which produces 1325 Million Kg of tea annum. Assam is producing 676.3 Million Kg/annum of tea (more than 51% of total tea production in India). During tea processing .in every year the factory generates more than 26.50 million Kg of tea waste in India (2%of total production) which contains 2.0 - 4.0% caffeine and 5.0 -8.0% of tannin. By using this tea waste 0.41 million Kg of caffeine and 2.20 million Kg tannin may be produced in every year which market value is more than Rs.500 crores. Therefore, a green and economic process is required to extract caffeine and tannin from tea waste in which the demand caffeine and tannin can be met to some extent and treated tea waste can be used for feed for animals, feed for fish and as a manure. It is the great challenge to implement nature caffeine and tannin production technology using tea waste for increasing business opportunities and employment generation to the country particularly in North East Region At our laboratory .We have developed /proof of concept for suitable process technology for extraction of caffeine and tannin from Assam tea waste From the preliminary findings. We have carried out cost calculation for the process and the process is found to be economical. Under this project, our aim is to develop a cost effective and environmentally benign process for production of caffeine and tannin in 1Kg per batch each components and development of value –added product from tea waste residue remained after extraction.

Organizations involved