SACCHARIFICATION OF MANGO PEEL WASTES BY USING MICROWAVE ASSISTED ALKALI PRETREATMENT TO ENHANCE ITS POTENTIAL FOR BIOETHANOL PRODUCTION

Abstract:

India ranks first among world's mango producing countries accounting for about 50% of the world's mango production. India's share is around 52% of world production i.e. 12 million tonnes as against world's production of 23 million tonnes .The current study presents a systematic exploration of the influences of microwave assisted alkali pretreatment (including power and irradiating time) on enzymatic hydrolysis and reducing sugar content of mango peel wastes (FPW). It was observed that higher reducing sugar concentration was observed at 450 W. The enzymatic hydrolysis of microwave assisted alkali pretreated mango peel waste (1 % NaOH) under optimal conditions (450W for 2min), gave maximum reducing sugar i.e. 0.704 g/g dry biomass. Atomic force microscopy revealed that surface of all FPWs got changed noticeably when microwave assisted alkali pretreatment was employed. X-ray diffraction also showed the prominent role of microwave heating in the disruption of recalcitrant structures and improving the enzymatic digestibility of MPWs. We believe that microwave assisted alkali pretreatment could be an energy-saving technology aimed to valorize the waste in a cost effective way.

Keywords: Microwave assisted alkali pretreatment; Mango peel wastes; Bioethanol; Enzymatic hydrolysis; Reducing sugar yield