Transforming potato peel waste: Exploring a biorefinery approach and its economic viability
by Jorge Luis Alonso with CHATGPT-4
A research paper from the University of Coimbra (Portugal), published in the Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, examines the potato processing industry, which generates significant amounts of potato peel waste. The study aims to explore the valorization of this waste using a biorefinery approach that includes extraction, anaerobic digestion and composting processes. This is a summary of its contents.
1. Introduction
Natural resources are becoming increasingly scarce as human populations grow, leading to concerns about depletion and pollution. The agricultural sector generates significant amounts of organic waste, with households and food production being the largest contributors.
This study focuses on the valorization of potato peel waste from processing industries through this approach, exploring extraction, anaerobic digestion, and composting processes. It examines the industry, technology readiness, recovered products, and economic analysis, addressing a gap in the literature on economic feasibility.
2. Potato industry
Potatoes are traded globally, with 30% being processed into products such as French fries and chips. This is an industry with significant socio-economic activity in the EU, valued at €9 billion in 2019.
The production of potato chips involves selection, peeling, washing, cutting, frying, flavoring and packaging, all of which generate residues such as potato peels and defective potatoes. Of these, steam and mechanical abrasive peeling are the most common methods, with peels accounting for 10–12% of the potato’s weight.
It should be noted that not only the potato chip industry generates significant amounts of potato peel, but so do other potato industries, with some companies using off-specification potatoes for animal feed or anaerobic digestion.
Read more here.
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