INVESTIGACIÓN Y DESARROLLO DE TRES PRODUCTOS DEL JABONCILLO (Sapindus saponaria L.) COMO BASE PARA SU INDUSTRIALIZACIÓN

Abstract

Esta investigación comprendió el estudio químico, fitoquímico y el escalado industrial, en planta piloto, de tres productos de la especie Sapindus saponaria conocida comúnmente en Colombia como jaboncillo, Michu. Este trabajo hace parte de un proyecto interdisciplinar encaminado a aprovechar y comercializar sus productos derivados: aceite, goma y sapogeninas triterpenoidales. La obtención de estos tres productos se llevó a cabo mediante procesos físicos y químicos tanto en laboratorio (Fase 1), como en la etapa de escalado industrial (Fase 2). En la etapa de laboratorio se estudiaron y evaluaron diferentes métodos de extracción y purificación, al igual que los correspondientes métodos de análisis químico para tres procedencias (Palmira, Valle; Viotá, Cundinamarca, y Santa María, Huila). Con base en los estudios de laboratorio sediseñaron los procesos de extracción y purificaciónen planta piloto suministrada por la empresa quinacol ltda., cuya razón social es la producción, investigación y desarrollo de productos para la industria fitofarmacéutica. Los productos desarrollados fueron caracterizados por métodos de análisis instrumental de resonancia magnética nuclear (rmn de 1H y 13C), cromatografía de gases con detector de ionización de llama (cg), espectroscopia infrarroja (ir) y técnic as de análisis químico específicas para estos productos.

This research included the chemical and phytochemical studies and the industrial scaling in pilot plant of three products of Sapindus saponaria, commonly known as jaboncillo, Michu. This work is part of an interdisciplinary research project aimed at the exploitation and commercialization of its harvested products: oil, gum, and triterpenoidal sapogenins. These three products were obtained through physical and chemical processes both in laboratory (phase 1) and in the industrial scaling stage (phase 2). During the laboratory stage different methods of extraction and purification were studied and assessed, along with the corresponding methods of chemical analysis for the three origins (Palmira, Valle; Viotá, Cundinamarca, and Santa María, Huila). Based on laboratory studies, extraction and purification processes were designed in a pilot plant supplied by the quinacol ltda. company, whose business is the production, research and development of products for the phytopharmaceutical industry. Developed products were characterized by methods of instrumental analysis of nuclear magnetic resonance (1 H nmr and 13c), flame ionization detector gas chromatography (gc), infrared spectroscopy (ir) and specific chemical analysis techniques designed for these products. The mature fruit of Santa María presented increased performance of oil and rubber; as well as the green fruit of Viotá, in a substance called Ss1, possibly hederagenina. Of the products obtained in the pilot phase, oil presented a high percentage of unsaturated fatty acids and rubber showed a high thickening capacity in aqueous solutions. Oil and rubber could be marketed from this species' fruit, because its composition and characteristics, as well as its performance, meets the main parameters of marketing, for which studies on industrial perfectibility are needed.