Bioactives from fruit processing wastes: Green approaches to valuable chemicals

- Fruit processing waste as a sustainable feedstock for recovery of bioactives is investigated.
- The quantum, current utilization and composition is discussed to define the potential application areas.
- Novel integrated future biorefineries are proposed and potential challenges are discussed with possible solutions.

Fruit processing industries contribute more than 0.5 billion tonnes of waste worldwide. The global availability of this feedstock and its untapped potential has encouraged researchers to perform detailed studies on value-addition potential of fruit processing waste (FPW). Compared to general food or other biomass derived waste, FPW are found to be selective and concentrated in nature. The peels, pomace and seed fractions of FPW could potentially be a good feedstock for recovery of bioactive compounds such as pectin, lipids, flavonoids, dietary fibres etc. A novel bio-refinery approach would aim to produce a wider range of valuable chemicals from FPW. The wastes from majority of the extraction processes may further be used as renewable sources for production of biofuels. The literature on value addition to fruit derived waste is diverse. This paper presents a review of fruit waste derived bioactives. The financial challenges encountered in existing methods are also discussed.