| Title of Process/ Know-how/ Product/Design/Equipment
Preparation of low sodium salt of botanic origin – Saloni – with backward integration of cultivation of Salicornia brachiata
IPR Status & Details:
US 6929809, IN 221049, AU 2002244907, BR PI0205773-5, CA 2429700, CN ZL02802456.7, EP 1487283, IL 154973, JO 2336, JP 4206343, MX 243499, SE 1487283, US 6929809, PCT/IN02/00063, WO 03079817
Application/Uses/Problem being addressed
Low sodium salts, Saloni are preferred by strict vegetarians and useful for those persons who have been advised to eat less common salt because of medical problems like hypertension.
Cultivation technology helps in generating large amount of biomass of Salicornia helps in coastal farmers/fishermen community as livelihood option besides contributing to an extent on GHGs emission.
Salient Technical Features including Competing Features/ Impact
Salient features for preparation of low sodium nutrient rich salts (Saloni), from high salt accumulating and edible oil-bearing salt tolerant plant, Salicornia brachiata (as a source of NaCl) are: Simple, efficient, reproducible and scalable
Sufficient quantities are micronutrients including K in the salt
Fine white crystalline and free flowing refined herbal salt
Offers additional opportunity in making oil
Optimized cultivation protocol that involves both agronomy and treatment for high yield of biomass per unit area scale
TRL Level & Scale of Development:- TRL 9 TRL Reference
TRL-9 (salt) and TRL-6 (cultivation)
Business scope & opportunity (in terms of scale, cost, market etc.)
Health consciousness among the people is on increasing trend, augmented by pandemic, and such healthy salt would be preferred; further, in food processing industry that are branded for use of excess salt in the products like pickles, papads etc. use of healthy salt create a new business market.
Environmental Considerations
Environmentally friendly process
Status of Licensing:
Ready for licensing
Technology is transferred-
echnology ready for licensing
Status of Commercialization:
N M S Pharma, Bhavnagar is commercially producing the salt and selling in both domestic/international market for last few years although in very small scale (couple of tons)
Major Raw Materials Needed
Dried plant material (dry biomass); Land near to coastal belt is ideal for cultivation
Major Plant Equipment and Machinery Required
Reactor, filter, evaporator, dryers etc. General agriculture equipment and machinery are required
Techno-Economics
One hectare saline land can produce approximately 41 ton fresh biomass, 11 ton dry biomass, 3.8 ton ash content. From the one ha land, approximately 1.9 ton salt can be prepared.
Technology Package
Available on specific request.