The Engineering Faculty  Universitas Dian Nuswantoro  (Udinus) developed a device with the purpose of producing fruit powder to support the Sustainable Green Economics Restoration with the Menik Jaya Community Group being the first institution to implement this device.

The device was developed in the form of a crystallization device, used to process fruits or spices into herbal powder. The development of this device was a part of a bigger program, namely, the Community Service. The service was conducted by the Engineering Faculty with the support given by the Director of Research, Technology, and Community Service of the Ministry of Education. The coaching session for the device implementation took place at the I building.

During the developing process up until the coaching process, the device was designed by Heru Agus Santoso, Ph.D., the Dean of the Engineering Faculty and the team leader, alongside two other members, including Ir. Nur Islahudin, MT and Dewa Kusuma Wijaya S.T., M.Sc. In addition to faculty members, there were five students involved in the coaching process. Meanwhile, the Menik Jaya Community Group involved ten locals.

The dean explained that the background of the crystallization device development was problems encountered by many fruit and spice stores, particularly in regard to their unsuccessful commodity.

Meanwhile, those commodity products had a relatively short amount of storing time, which was concerning as these commodity products could potentially rot before being sold. The dean revealed that this whole time, fruit and spice stores would sometimes sell their products at such a low price before the products eventually rot.

“This crystallization device could process any unsold fruit or spice into powder. The powder will later be sold in stores as healthy herbal products,” the dean explained.

In addition to the device, the Menik Jaya Community Group was also given instruction on using the crystallization device to process fruits and spices into herbal products. As the statement elaborated by Dewa Kusuma Wijaya S.T., M.Sc.

He revealed that the Menik Jaya Community Group was educated in packaging and marketing the products using digital technology as the basis. Through this community service program, the crystallization device is expected to benefit the Menik Jaya Community Group, particularly in the aspects of economics, society, environment, and health.

“From the economic viewpoint, this device could help them in processing herbal powder and marketing the products, and from the social viewpoint, it could serve as a job opportunity. Whereas, the crystallization device could also reduce organic wastes if we were to environmentally speak, and the products produced by this device is herbal powder, making it also benefits the health aspect,” he emphasized.

The Community Service program partnered with the Menik Jaya Community Group from Banyumanik Sub-district, Semarang. The Community Service conducted by the Engineering Faculty was entitled ‘The Development of Crystallization Device for the Menik Jaya Community Group in Supporting the Acceleration of Sustainable Green Economics Restoration.’ (Humas Udinus/Alex. Foto: Dok. FT Udinus)