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The Avocado and Its Waste: An Approach of Fuel Potential/Application

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Environment, Energy and Climate Change II

Part of the book series: The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry ((HEC,volume 34))

Abstract

With a global production exceeding 4 million tons per year in 2011, avocado has become a major agroindustrial commodity. Most of the production and the transformation industry is located in North and Central America, although consumption is growing fast primarily in developed countries like the USA and the European Union. The principal use of the avocado fruit is human consumption, although other applications related to the production of cosmetics, nutritional supplements and livestock feed have been reported.

Only the avocado pulp is employed for commercial applications, while other fruit elements like the seed and peel have no practical use and are disposed of by landfilling. Avocado seeds, which represent up to 26 wt % of the fruit mass, are produced in large amounts in centralized avocado transformation plants. Despite their high starch content, the seeds cannot be used for livestock feeding due to the high concentration of polyphenols, which impart a bitter taste and may be toxic at high levels. This chapter presents an introduction into the characteristics of avocado seeds and its potential use as a fuel using different technologies. Information is provided about the chemical, physical and thermal properties of the material. Preliminary results are also included describing its thermochemical transformation using a rotary kiln and a porous media reactor. Product yields and compositions are described for the gasification and pyrolysis of this material using different operating conditions. The chapter also shows preliminary analysis regarding mechanical densification for the production of pellets.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the European Commission for financial support under Marie Curie Actions (Grant Agreement no 318927) and to Universidad Politécnica de Madrid for financial support under Project AL13-PID-16 for Research Activities with Latin America. We are also grateful to restaurant Punto MX (Madrid, Spain) and to Frumaco SL (Málaga, Spain) for provision of avocado seeds.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ingeniería Energética y Fluido Mecánica, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales (ETSII), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, C/ José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006, Madrid, Spain

    María Paz Domínguez, Francisco Sánchez & Guillermo San Miguel

  2. Departamento de Ingeniería Mecánica, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Av. España 1680, Valparaíso, Chile

    Karina Araus & Mario Toledo

  3. Centro de Economía y Administración de Residuos Sólidos, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, C/ General Bari No 699, Co Placeres, Valparaíso, Chile

    Pamela Bonert

Authors
  1. María Paz Domínguez
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  2. Karina Araus
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  3. Pamela Bonert
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  4. Francisco Sánchez
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  5. Guillermo San Miguel
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  6. Mario Toledo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to María Paz Domínguez .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. CERTES-IUT, The University Paris Est Créteil, Paris Créteil, France

    Gilles Lefebvre

  2. Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM), Ciudad Real, Spain

    Elena Jiménez

  3. Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM), Ciudad Real, Spain

    Beatriz Cabañas

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Domínguez, M.P., Araus, K., Bonert, P., Sánchez, F., San Miguel, G., Toledo, M. (2014). The Avocado and Its Waste: An Approach of Fuel Potential/Application. In: Lefebvre, G., Jiménez, E., Cabañas, B. (eds) Environment, Energy and Climate Change II. The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, vol 34. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/698_2014_291

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