Valorization of cocoa processing waste bioresource in biofuel production: A mini review

Abstract

Food-related waste is produced in large quantities every year throughout the world. Cocoa industrial wastes, in particular, constitute an important source of useable biomass for the development of fresh items like food, farm animal feed, beauty products, and chemical substances, as well as the production of biofuels. Cocoa pod shells, bean shells, and mucilage are among the cocoa industrial wastes that include compounds of relevance to many businesses. However, because of these by-products’ lignocellulose content, which necessitates pretreatment to effectively employ them, depending on the conversion technique utilized to get the best biomass yield, different kinds of renewable energy can be produced. Modern research has demonstrated that solid, gaseous, and liquid biofuels may be produced from industrial waste from cocoa. All the same, the most prevalent use documented is as a direct combustion source for powering the same production plants. As a result, the goal of this project is to conduct a review of biodiesel synthesis utilizing cocoa pods as a catalyst as well as the technological concept used for the transformation. Emerging trends also show how important it is to use predictive methods to improve system parameters and to use enzyme catalysis in manufacturing to speed up chemical reactions.