CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

Theobroma cacao L. is an economically significant crop in several tropical

countries such as the Philippines. Its commercially profitable beans account for 10% of

the cacao fruits fresh weight. These oil-rich beans are used primarily in producing cocoa

powder and butter, which are mainly used in chocolate industry (Kalvatchev et al., 1998).

Recently, worldwide production from cocoa harvest was greater than 3.6 million

tons from dry beans (ICCO, 2012), 3,662 tons of which were produced in Philippines

(DTI, 2012).

In this period, the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) price averaged

$2,599/ton (PHP 129,113.12/ton), and the mean annual world billing was more than $9

trillion (PHP 447.10 trillion), indicating the agro-industrial sectors great importance

around the world.

However, with the great economic importance of cocoa production accompanies

substantial generation of wastes (Kalvatchev et al., 1998). During extraction of cocoa

beans, pod husks, which constitutes 52-76% of the weight of the cacao fruit (Donkoh,

Atuahene, Wilson, & Adomako, 1991; Fagbenro, 1988) are considered an undesirable

waste product of the cocoa industry. For each ton of dry beans produced, 10 tons of wet
cacao pod husks are generated, representing a serious disposal problem (Figueira et al.,

1993; Kalvatchev et al., 1998). Cacao pod husks (CPHs) are dumped around the

processing plants and can cause major environmental problem. Aside from the foul odors

produced due to decomposition, decaying CPHs can cause botanical diseases including

black pod rot (Barazarte, Sangronis, & Unai, 2008; Donkoh et al., 1991; Figueira, Janick,

& BeMiller, 1993; Kalvatchev et al., 1998).

The increase in production and processing of cocoa beans generates increasing

wastes, resulting in million tons of CPHs being disposed annually. In the Philippines and

other cocoa-producing countries, processing this cacao waste could provide economic

advantages and mitigate a number of environmental problems. CPHs are readily

available, so they could be used to recover valuable compounds such as pectins

(Blakemore, Dewar, & Hodge, 1966).

Pectins are a group of complex, acid-rich polysaccharides from plant cell walls

and consist of mainly galacturonic acid units bing linked by - (1 4) linkages. They are

used as gelling and stabilizer agents in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries

(Rolin, 1993; Voragen, Pilnik, Thibault, Axelos, & Renard, 1995) and have significant

effects on human health, including lowering cholesterol and serum glucose levels,

reducing cancer and stimulating the immunoresponse (May, 1990; Mohnen, 2008).

Commercial pectins are commonly obtained from citrus peel and apple pomace

which are byproducts of juice manufacturing and are generally extracted with hot, diluted

mineral acid (May, 1990). The increasing industrial demand for pectins with varying
ability to gel or stabilize products increases the need for pectins of different types or

derivatives with tailored properties (Rosenbohm, Lundt, Christensen, & Young, 2003).

The Philippines depends heavily on imported pectin due to the lack of viable

technology to produce it locally. In 2011, the Philippines total pectin importation from

various origins reached 94,848.93 kg with total custom value of US$ 52,383,487 or P2.2

billion. The landed cost of imported pectin was P27,122.56/kg (DTI, 2011). These were

mainly used by the food processing, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries as

thickening, gelling and stabilizing agents.

The increasing demand for pectins with different properties indicates the need to

find alternative pectin sources, and cacao pod husks are a potential, inexpensive

candidate. Previous studies have indicated the presence of pectins in CPHs (Adomako,

1972; Barazarte et al., 2008; Blakemore et al., 1966). As more research of CPHs is

conducted, their use could be diversified, adding greater value to the pod and helping to

solve the environmental problem created by the discarded CPHs. With high cost of

imported pectin, a country like the Philippines with abundant supply of quality raw

materials may find it feasible to set-up processing plants in order to meet the domestic

requirement for pectin. Besides, the Philippines can be a major pectin exporter if all the

available CPHs in the country can be employed for pectin production. Thus, utilization of

CPHs for manufacturing of pectin will boost the countrys economy through saving of

dollar reserves because of less pectin importation, and job generation through the creation

of a new industry thus helping alleviate poverty.

This main purpose if this manuscript is to provide a general plan for a processing

plant which can convert 9 10% (w/w%) of the raw material, which is cacao pod husk,

into pectin.

Specifically, the design aims to:

a) produce a low-methoxyl (LM) homogalacturonan (52-62% uronic acid) pectin

with high acetyl content (DE 40.3%; DA 15.9%) from cacao pod husk using

hot acid hydrolysis with citric acid;

1.3 Significance of the Study

With the continuous economic growth comes the increasing demand for

technological advancements. The wide variety of industries requires the constant search

for new and feasible raw materials in order to cope up with the ever-changing production

demands.

The demand for pectin, having apparent applications as functional ingredient in

food science, nutrition, cosmetics, and pharmacy, continues to hike with rapid population

growth in the Philippines (May, 1990). As of this writing, the Philippines relies heavily

on imported pectin due to the absence of viable technology to produce it locally. The

principal sources of pectin so far suggested are apple pomace or the refuse from cider and

vinegar mills, citrus peels or the refuse from the production of citric acid and other major
citric products, beet pulp or the residue from beet sugar manufacture, and carrots which

can be raised quite cheaply.

So far as is known only the refuse from operations handling apples or citrus fruits

have been used commercially as sources of pectin. Given this, the commercialization of

pectin production from CPHs paves way to economic stability by making it accessible

locally and eradicating the need to import which results to cheaper production costs for

the local industries in the country.

The growing chocolate industry in the Philippines equates to higher number of

waste materials, particulary solid wastes in the form of unutilized CPHs. The processing

of this material as feedstock for pectin production provides means to utilize the waste

produced by the chocolate manufacturing industry. Consequently, it would lessen the

amount of residuals for dumping and thus, reducing environmental degradation.

This proposed facility would pilot the first processing plant for Low-Methoxyl

Pectin (LMP) from Cacao (Theobroma Cacao) pod husks in the Philippines. This would

cater the requirement of local manufacturing industries utilizing pectin in their respective

processes.

The industrial plant would also be beneficial as it provides additional revenue to

the cacao industry. Aside from these, it supplies additional number of jobs in the

Philippines, giving chances for more workers and wage earners.

1.4 Scope and limitations

shifts, for 300 days in a year. The plant shall have a capacity to process 1 metric ton of

CPHs (6 days/week) per batch, producing 0.1 metric ton daily.

The feed material will only be limited to CPHs which will be grounded into flour

onsite. Prices for utilities such as electricity and water will be based on the rate provided

by the locality in which the plant is situated. The design is limited only to the production

of low-methoxyl pectin with the properties of what Vriesmannet. al (2011) extracted at

optimal conditions using citric acid.

The process flow is based on the conventional processing of pectin from citrus

peels with modification at some key points of the process. The basis for the conditions

required for the extraction of low-methoxyl pectin from cacao pod husk will be based on

the study of Vriesmannet. Al. which entails hydrolysis of cacao pod husk flour with citric

acid at pH 3.0, 95 0C, for 90min. Values pertaining to the thermodynamics properties of

pure substances involved, piping calculations, energy balances, etc. will be obtained from

engineering handbooks and results from related studies. Extraction and purification

procedures will be a scaled-up version of the study of Vriesmann et. Al (2011).

The proposed plant will be situated in Subasta, Calinan, Davao City, Davao del

Sur as shown in Figure 1.4-1, where the Subasta Integrated Farmers Multi-Purpose

Cooperative (SIFMPC) produces 2 MT of dried cocoa beans per week or a total of 100

MT of beans annually (Sarmiento 2014). This roughly translates to disposal of 200 MT of

cacao pod husk per year.

provided by affecting government agencies of the Republic of the Philippines.

Figure 1.4-1 Satellite view of the Plant site

1.5 Bibliography

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Barazarte, H., Sangronis, E., Unai, E., 2008. La cascara de cacao (Theobroma cacao L.):

unaposiblefuentecomercial de pectinas. Arch. Latinoam. Nutr. 58, 6470.

pod husk. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 17, 558560.

DTI, 2016.Cocoa/Tablea. Available on http://industry.gov.ph/industry/cacao-tablea/

Donkoh, A., Atuahene, C. C., Wilson, B. N., &Adomako, D. (1991). Chemical

composition of cocoa pod husk and its effect on growth and food efficiency in

broiler chicks. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 35, 161-169.

Fagbenro, O. A. (1988). Results of preliminary studies on the utilization of cocoa-pod

husks in fish production in South-west Nigeria. Biological Wastes, 25, 233-237.

Figueira, A., Janick, J., BeMiller, J.N., 1993. New products from Theobroma cacao: seed

pulp and pod gum. In: Janick, J., Simin, J.E. (Eds.), New Crops. Wiley, New

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ICCO, 2012. Latest Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics. Available on

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Kalvatchev, Z., Garzaro, D., Cedezo, F.G., 1998. Theobroma cacao L.: unnuevoenfoque

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Polymer, 12: 79-99.

Rolin, C. (1993). Pectins. In R. L. Whistler, & J. N. BeMiller (Eds.), Industrial gums:

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Rosenbohm, C., Lundt, I., Christensen, T. M. I. E., & Young, N. W. G. (2003).

Chemically methylated and reduced pectins: preparation, characterisation by 1H

NMR spectroscopy, enzymatic

Voragen, A. G. J., Pilnik, W., Thibault, J.-F., Axelos, M. A. V., &Renard, M. G. C. (1995).

Pectins.In A. M. Stephen (Ed.), Food polysaccharides and their applications (pp.

288e310). New York: Marcel Dekker Inc.

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soluble pectins. Industrial Crops and Products, 34, 11731181.

Vriesmann, L. C., Tefilo, R. F., & de Oliveira Petkowicz, C. L. (2011a). Optimization of

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L.) using response surface methodology. Carbohydrate Polymers, 84, 12301236.