Production of linalool based on essential oil of basil: a sustainable ecological alternative to replace linalool from the bendy tree, an amazonian threatened species

• Grant number: 02/13051-8
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Innovative Research in Small Business - PIPE
• Start date: February 01, 2004
• End date: April 30, 2007
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Crop Science
• Principal Investigator: Nilson Borlina Maia
• Grantee: Nilson Borlina Maia
• Company: Linax Indústria e Comércio de Óleos Essenciais Ltda
• City: Votuporanga
• Associated research grant(s): 19/11314-2 - Industrial and commercial development of high performance automated essential oils distillers, AP.PIPE

Abstract

This project aims to transform into production the results of research developed in the Institute of Agronomy, which showed the potential for the economic exploitation of linalool derived from the essential oil of basil. The development of this new system of production is doubly advantageous. First, because it may free from extinction the bendy tree (physocolymma scaberrimum), from which linalool has been traditionally extracted. In second place, as it offers a real opportunity for family farmers in the region of Votuporanga (SP) to make a living, creating a new segment in agribusiness: the exploitation of essential oils. Whereas the tree must wait more than three decades before its trunk can be cut down and the oil contained in it extracted, which signifies the elimination of the plant, the leaves from the herb can be distilled to produce the essential oil three or four months after planting, with the possibility of three crops per year. The research project concluded in the first stage clearly showed the viability of the economic exploitation of linalool derived from basil, given sufficient subsidies to set up the industrialization of the product. (AU)