Fruit waste as feedstock for recovery by pyrolysis technique

• Fruit wastes were examined for their potential as feedstock for pyrolysis recovery.
• Wastes were also pyrolysed and examined for thermal behaviour via TGA approach.
• Wastes contain high volatile matter with aliphatics, fatty acids, lignocellulose.
• Wastes show high fixed carbon content for recovery as biochar via pyrolysis.
• Pyrolysis at ≥400 °C is suitable to recover the majority of the waste content.

Fruit wastes of mango endocarp and waste fruits peel from banana, orange and watermelon were pyrolysed respectively and subjected to different analyses to examine their thermal behaviour, chemical functional group, elemental and proximate content. The fruit wastes were dominated by volatile matter (52–67 wt%) containing aliphatic hydrocarbons, fatty acids and lignocellulosic components that can be recovered as potential fuel or chemical feedstock via pyrolysis. The wastes were also detected to have considerable amounts of fixed carbon (30–36 wt%), thus showing potential to be pyrolysed to produce biochar for use as activated carbon or catalyst support. The wastes can be pyrolysed at ≥ 400 °C to convert the majority of the waste content into volatiles for recovery as useful bio-oil and bio-gas, and the remaining solid mass can be recovered as bio-char. The results demonstrate that the fruit wastes show exceptional promise as a feedstock for pyrolysis conversion into potentially useful products.

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