The agricultural waste fibers are of notable economic and cultural significance all over the world are used for building materials, as a decorative product and as a versatile raw product. Agricultural waste fibers also have significant potential in composite due to its high strength, environmentally friendly nature, low cost, availability and sustainability. The agricultural waste is one of the most important problems that must be resolved for the conservation of global environment. The potential properties of agricultural waste fibers have sparked a lot of research to use these fibers as a material to replace man-made fibers for safe and environmentally friendly product. Agricultural waste is seen as one potential source of renewable energy. Their availability is obtained from oil palm plantations and some other agricultural industry such as rice husk, rice straw, sugarcane, pineapple, banana and coconut. Agricultural waste produces large amounts of biomass that are classified as natural fibers which until now only 10% are used as alternative raw materials for several industry, such as biocomposites, automotive component, biomedical and others.

Agricultural waste fibers towards sustainability and advanced utilization: a review.

The food sector includes several large industries such as canned food, pasta, flour, frozen products, and beverages. Those industries transform agricultural raw materials into added-value products. The fruit and vegetable industry is the largest and fastest-growing segment of the world agricultural production market, which commercialize various products such as juices, jams, and dehydrated products, followed by the cereal industry products such as chocolate, beer, and vegetable oils are produced. Similarly, the root and tuber industry produces flours and starches essential for the daily diet due to their high carbohydrate content. However, the processing of these foods generates a large amount of waste several times improperly disposed of in landfills. Due to the increase in the world's population, the indiscriminate use of natural resources generates waste and food supply limitations due to the scarcity of resources, increasing hunger worldwide. The circular economy offers various tools for raising awareness for the recovery of waste, one of the best alternatives to mitigate the excessive consumption of raw materials and reduce waste. The loss and waste of food as a raw material offers bioactive compounds, enzymes, and nutrients that add value to the food cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. This paper systematically reviewed literature with different food loss and waste by-products as animal feed, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical products that strongly contribute to the paradigm shift to a circular economy. Additionally, this review compiles studies related to the integral recovery of by-products from the processing of fruits, vegetables, tubers, cereals, and legumes from the food industry, with the potential in SARS-CoV-2 disease and bacterial diseases treatment.

https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/26/2/515/pdf

The Potential of Selected Agri-Food Loss and Waste to Contribute to a Circular Economy: Applications in the Food, Cosmetic and Pharmaceutical Industries.

Recovery of high value-added compounds from pineapple, melon, watermelon and pumpkin processing by-products: An overview.

Background Fruit and vegetable processing industries account for the largest segment of food waste which is produced worldwide. The disposal of this waste requires a huge capital investment, majority of which is the transportation costs. This results in dumping and burning of these wastes in open fields. Scope and approach In this review, we have focussed on the valorisation schemes to extract valuable biomolecules from pineapple on-farm and processing waste for food and therapeutics applications. Biorefinery approach has been highlighted for sustainable production of value added products. Key findings and conclusion The high content of carbohydrate (55%) in pineapple waste makes it an appropriate substrate for the production of valuable chemicals such as xylitol, xylooligosaccharides, lactic acid, succinic acid and others, which have potential application in the food industry. The enzyme, bromelain, which is present in pineapple, has potential for application in therapeutics as well as in the food industry. Such utilisation of waste could prove to be a better alternative in the mitigation of environmental problems and also to propose a novel method to produce valuable chemicals. Despite the opportunities, there are challenges in the valorisation of this waste, largely due to the poor understanding of its nutritional and economic value, gap in close-linked markets, logistics issues for plant scale-up. Since most of the research is limited to lab-scale studies, additional research is required to evaluate techno-economic feasibility of the processes involved in the bio-refinery with minimum environmental impact for effective transition to circular economy.

Valorisation of pineapple wastes for food and therapeutic applications

Hemicellulose based biorefinery from pineapple peel waste: Xylan extraction and its conversion into xylooligosaccharides

In Mexico pineapple
processing produces industrial residues with a high concentration of dietary
fibre. The aim of this study was to quantify the constituents of the fibrous
residues from the industrial processing of pineapples which exhibited low
concentrations of lignin.

/pdf/chemical-characterisation-of-the-industrial-residues-of-the-19dtghe9ii.pdf

Chemical Characterisation of the Industrial Residues of the Pineapple (Ananas comosus)

Pineapple residues can account for 50% of waste weight.The aim of this research was to study the structural, physicochemical and functional properties of the industrial residues of pineapple to obtain information for recommending their use as dietary fibre. The pineapple residues had a high concentration of cellulose and a low crystallinity index (21.47-30.4%; 14.90-25.86 cellulose I and II, respectively). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed helical tracheids (HT) and sclerenchymatic fibres (SF) in the shell and helical tracheids in the leaf bracts and various ‘individual’ fibres with a semi-helical cord (SHC) shape in the core. Additionally, the pineapple residues exhibited low concentrations of lignin, which is an advantage when they are subjected to chemical or enzymatic hydrolysis. Therefore, a new type of product based on these residues could be considered helpful for promoting the nutritional value of foods and extending the utilisation of residues.

María Elena Ramos Cassellis

Papers

Chemical Characterisation of the Industrial Residues of the Pineapple (Ananas comosus)

STRUCTURAL, PHYSICOCHEMICAL AND FUNCTIONAL PROPERTIES OF INDUSTRIAL RESIDUES OF PINEAPPLE ( Ananas comosus )