Project Report on Katha & Cutch

Katha and cutch are produced from the heart wood of Acacia catechu. It is a common tree found in the tropical deciduous and thorn forests of India. Katha is mainly used in betel leaf (Pan) as masticatory and valued for its catechin content. Cutch, the bye product of  Katha industry is largely used for dyeing, colouring pulp in paper industry, water softening and in deep oil drilling operations. Kattha is obtained mostly by crystallization in cold from the water extractives of the heartwood of Acacia catechu Willd., fam. Leguminosae commonly known as KHAIR tree, which is widely distributed in India, form the north-west  plains to eastwards in Assam and throughout the country, particularly in the deciduous and drier regions. The other species  namely, A. chundra Willd and A. catechuoides of Kattha is carried out both, as a cottage scale industry in and around the organized sector. The general  principle of extraction of the heartwood and of consequent separation of Kattha (containing most of catechin) from cutch (Principally catechu-tannic acid) is the same in cottage sector as well as large scale units. In the conventional process of Kattha manufacture followed by cottage sector of  the industry, during  separation of  the crystalline Kattha, the soluble cutch-tans, a valuable by-product are neither effectively removed nor recovered, except by a few.