Valuation of agroindustrial waste in the obtaining of biofuels and value added products by anaerobic digestion

• Grant number: 22/15706-5
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: July 01, 2023
• End date: June 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Sanitary Engineering - Water Supply and Wastewater Treatment
• Principal Investigator: Sandra Imaculada Maintinguer
• Grantee: Sandra Imaculada Maintinguer
• Host Institution: Instituto de Pesquisa em Bioenergia (IPBEN). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil
• City of the host institution: Rio Claro
• Associated researchers: Lorena Oliveira Pires

Abstract

Agribusiness is one of the most important sectors of the economy in the world and Brazil is currently the third largest producer of fruits in the world. Banana production has become one of the prominent segments in agribusiness. However, the generation of waste in the sector has generated an increasing environmental and economic concern, since much of the waste from fruit processing is normally dumped in rivers, oceans, landfills and unregulated dumps, causing damage to the environment. The reuse of these residues as raw material in microbiological processes allows the recovery of value-added products with the concomitant production of bioenergy, emerging as an alternative solution to the problem of discarding fruit residues and reinforcing the concept of biorefinery, where by-products are valued. and minimization of improperly disposed remaining waste. The present research project intends to contribute to the establishment of ideal operational parameters and criteria for the production of biogas Hydrogen and Methane, as well as other value-added products (alcohols and volatile fatty acids) in bioreactors, using banana processing residues, from the previous application of an experimental design. The increment of the co-digestion process, allied to the previous application of the experimental design, will seek to obtain high yields in the generation of the products of interest, promoting alternatives for the recovery of organic solid waste from the processing of bananas in bioenergy, within the scope of the national agroindustry. (AU)