PREPARATION AND DESIGN OF THE PROCESS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF A HEALING CREAM FROM THE EXTRACT OF CROTON ELEGANS KUNTH LEAVES

Ecuador being a megadiverse country, has plant species with uses in ancestral medicine, is the case of the plant Croton elegans kunth or its common name known as Mosquera that currently there is not enough information about its uses, however there is a study where they test their healing activity, giving good results in tests with mice, Thus, this study shows a process of obtaining ethanolic extract from the leaves of the Mosquera plant for use in the development of a healing cream and shows the study of the feasibility of business for its industrial production. The tests show that the extract of fly fruit leaves (Croton elegans kunth) contains phenolic compounds with important biological activity that can help the processes of skin healing, the most stable cream with better characteristics was the one containing 2.5% of leaf extract of the plant, with a pH value of 4.2, a density of 0.9607 g/mL and an extensibility of 3176.54 mm2, and microbiological analyses of the extract and cream show results free of pathogenic microorganisms that can harm health. In addition, the product complies with the specifications of cosmetic regulations of the USA, Mexico and Ecuador. When performing the financial analysis, it shows that an investment of $ 22,423.24 US dollars in the construction and start-up of a healing cream production plant is recovered in approximately 2 years, which indicates a business feasibility.