Tropical agroindustrial biowaste revalorization through integrative biorefineries—review part II: pineapple, sugarcane and banana by-products in Costa Rica

Abstract

Biorefineries are a model for greener production processes, based on the concept of bioeconomy. Instead of targeting first-generation biofuels—that compete with food supply—the focus relies on lignocellulosic material, considering many aspects, such as sustainable fuel production, as well as valorization of waste, as an alternative to the traditional petrochemical approach of goods production. Especially, in tropical countries agricultural activities lead to tremendous amounts of biomass, resulting in waste that has to be dealt with. In the case of Costa Rica, the five major crops cultivated for export are coffee, oil palm, pineapple, sugarcane, and banana. Traditional ways of waste treatment cannot cope with the increasing amount of biomass produced and therefore, bear various challenges often related to increased pollution. This review aims to bring up the recent state of waste treatment but even more, stress potential opportunities of adding value to not used residues; thus, improve sustainability in the agro industrial sector. Part I of the review already highlighted the potential of producing promising bioactive chemical compounds by novel biorefinery concepts from agricultural waste originating from coffee and oil palm cultivation. This second part focuses on the lignocellulose-rich biowaste from pineapple, sugarcane, and banana, showing biorefinery concepts, where fuel and energy production, as well as establishment of novel products and new applications, play an important role.