Deep Eutectic Solvent Pretreatment of Pineapple Peel for Enhanced Cellulose Conversion: Towards Sustainable Biofuel Production

Abstract

Given the substantial cellulose content in pineapple fruit peel, redirecting this waste towards second-generation biofuel production could significantly diminish the need for environmentally taxing on-field handling practices. The objective of this study was to investigate the potential of the fruit peel as a substitute cellulose source by analyzing its chemical composition. A pretreatment method utilizing Deep Eutectic Solvent (DES), a green solvent, which is composed of a blend of ethylene glycol and citric acid, was employed. The results revealed that the glucose and xylose content increased to 59.85% and 97.12%, respectively, after pretreatment. The total reducing sugar present in the untreated and pretreated samples was 0.057 g/g and 0.095 g/g respectively. Furthermore, an assessment of chemical structural alterations in the biomass was conducted to verify the efficacy of pretreatment. Therefore, this study confirmed the potential of this biomass as a biorefinery feedstock and it is expected to produce more value-added products from it.