article · Sustainability
Fruit peel waste from juice vendors creates substantial challenges for organic waste management. Research evaluated four fruit peel types, specifically pineapple, sweet lemon, kinnow, and pomegranate, for energy generation using conventional and electro-assisted anaerobic reactors, alongside the use of spent digestate as a soil bio-fertiliser for radish crops. Physicochemical analyses confirmed all peels contained digestible organic matter. Pineapple peel treated in the electro-assisted reactor yielded the highest biogas volume with over 62 percent methane, outperforming pomegranate, sweet lemon, and kinnow. The modified Gompertz model best described the digestion kinetics. Applying the resulting digestate to soil significantly enhanced arable soil characteristics. Kinnow digestate yielded the greatest agronomic gains, recording the highest increases in radish plant height, spread, leaf count, fresh leaf weight, and overall fruit yield, highlighting a viable dual valorisation route.
Enormous volumes of discarded fruit peels burden municipal waste systems, particularly in low- and middle-income regions. Demonstrating that common fruit wastes can yield both methane-rich biogas and high-performing bio-fertilisers provides a sustainable blueprint for circular waste management. This dual recovery method addresses environmental pollution from organic dumping while offering renewable energy and natural soil amendments to support food production.
This work could enable municipal waste management services, commercial juice vendors, and agricultural input manufacturers to valorise fruit residues into energy and bio-fertilisers. The evidence reflects applied and tested experimental research combining laboratory-scale reactors and crop cultivation trials. Transitioning to commercial deployment would require scaling up the electro-assisted reactor systems and validating consistent digestate quality across varied seasonal feedstocks.
AI-generated from the published abstract. Always read the original work before citing.
Food waste has become a challenging global issue due to its inefficient management, particularly in low and middle-income countries. Among food waste items, fruit peel waste (FPW) is generated in enormous quantities, especially from juice vendors, resulting in arduous tasks for waste management personnel and authorities. However, considering the nutrient and digestible content of organic wastes, in this study four types of FPW (pineapple: PA; sweet lemon: SL; kinnow: KN; and pomegranate: PG) were investigated for their potential use within biogas production, using conventional and electro-assisted anaerobic reactors (CAR and EAR). In addition, the FPW digestate obtained after the biogas production experiments was considered as a soil bio-fertilizer under radish (Raphanussativus L. cv. Pusa Himani) cultivation. In the results, all four types of FPW had digestible organic fractions, as revealed from physicochemical and proximate analysis. However, PA-based FPW yielded the maximum biogas (1422.76 ± 3.10 mL/62.21 ± 0.13% CH4) using the EAR system, compared to all other FPW. Overall, the decreasing order of biogas yield obtained from FPW was observed as PA > PG > SL > KN. The kinetic analysis of the biogas production process showed that the modified Gompertz model best fitted in terms of coefficient of determination (R2 > 0.99) to predict cumulative biogas production (y), lag phase (λ), and specific biogas production rate (µm). Moreover, fertilizer application of spent FPW digestate obtained after biogas production significantly improved the arable soil properties (p < 0.05). Further, KN-based FPW digestate mixing showed maximum improvement in radish plant height (36.50 ± 0.82 cm), plant spread (70.80 ± 3.79 cm2), number of leaves (16.12 ± 0.05), fresh weight of leaves (158.08 ± 2.85 g/plant), fruit yield (140.10 ± 2.13 g/plant), and fruit length (25.05 ± 0.15 cm). Thus, this study suggests an efficient method of FPW management through biogas and crop production.
This page summarises published work. The authoritative version sits with the publisher.
DOI: 10.3390/su141610224
Is something wrong with this record? Report it or request removal.
Discussion
Have you built on this work, tried to replicate it, or seen it applied in practice? Share what you know. Verified researchers and MARATTO™ domain experts can open a discussion, and any member can reply. Contributions are reviewed before they appear.
No discussion yet. Open the first thread.
New to MARATTO™? Create a free account.
