Pongamia is a platform
More than just a feedstock for biofuel—Terviva has unique know-how on over a dozen unique, high-value solutions derived from pongamia. Products made from the “super tree” or its beans include cattle feed, fertilizer, Ponova® protein and food oil, and bioactive compounds.
Cattle feed
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Solves major challenges
Markets like India and Australia have a growing need for supplement ingredients vital to animal nutrition. Typical sources (e.g. rapeseed, soybean) face cost, scarcity, or reliability issues. Pongamia helps solve these challenges while also providing an environmental benefit.
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Backed by rigorous research
Our approach to overcoming pongamia palatability challenges is informed by worldwide academic and commercial studies in cattle (dairy, beef) and poultry.
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Effective source of protein
Key benefits of pongamia meal as feed ingredient include:
- Nutritionally balanced (similar to rapeseed)
- Available in typical DOC off-seasons (India)
- Complete amino acid profile
- Local and sustainable sourcing -
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Environmentally friendly
Pongamia meal typically has a carbon intensity score up to 50% lower than traditional animal feed ingredients, resulting in a steep reduction in lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions.
Ponova® food ingredients
Bioactive compounds
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Only we can scale karanjin and pongamol (“K&P”), plus other high-potential compounds naturally found in pongamia.
Beyond their commercial applications, we use these flavonoids as unique “fingerprints” for precise identification of our pongamia trees and products derived from them.
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Karanjin and pongamol (“K&P”) are at the cutting edge of bioactive compounds being investigated today.
Current commercial applications for K&P include skin care and cosmetics, biopesticides, and analytical standards (R&D use)
Meanwhile, academic focus areas include potential applications for diabetes, cancer, inflammation, and neuroprotection.
Sample literature:
Gnanaraj, et al. “Karanjin: a potential furanoflavonoid for neuroprotection” (2024)
Raghav, et al. “Biochemical and toxicological investigation of karanjin, a bio-pesticide isolated from Pongamia seed oil“ (2019)
Dwivedi, et al. “Evaluation of wound healing, anti-microbial and antioxidant potential of Pongamia pinnata in wistar rats” (2017)
Tamrakar, et al. “Identification of pongamol and karanjin as lead compounds with antihyperglycemic activity from Pongamia pinnata fruits” (2008).
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We have isolated and quantified a total of 10 unique flavonoids found in pongamia (e.g. kanjone, pongapin, ovalitenone).
