Bioresource Technology58 (1996) 73-76

Copyright 1996 Elsevier Science Limited

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ELSEVIER

PII:S0960-8524(96)00107.1

BIOMETHANATION OF BANANA PEEL AND PINEAPPLE

WASTE
Nirmala Bardiya, Deepak Somayaji & Sunil Khanna*
Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Unit, Tata Energy Research Institute, Darbari Seth Block, Habitat Place, Lodi Road,
New Delhi 110 003, India
(Received 19 December 1995; revised version received 11 July 1996; accepted 30 July 1996)
Abstract
Biomethanation of banana peel and pineapple wastes
studied at various HRTs showed a higher rate of gas
production at lower retention time. The lowest possible
H R T for banana peel was 25 days, resulting in a maximum rate of gas production of O.76 vol/vol/day with
36% substrate utilization, while pineapple-processing
waste digesters could be operated at 10 days HRT, with
a maximum rate of gas production of 0.93 vol/vol/day
and 58% substrate utilization. For pineapple-processing waste lowering of retention time did not affect the
methane content significantly; however, with banana
peel an HRT below 25 days showed a drastic reduction
in methane content. Copyright 1996 Elsevier Science
Ltd.

Biomethanation of fruit wastes is the best suited

treatment as the process not only adds energy in the
form of methane, but also results in a highly stabilized effluent which is almost neutral in pH and is
odourless. Cuzin et al. (1992) studied methanogenic
fermentation of cassava peel and recorded 0.217 m 3
biogas production/kg fresh cassava peel, with a mean
methane content of 57%. A mixture of fruit and
vegetable wastes subjected to anaerobic digestion
produced 0.12 m 3 biogas/kg TS added at an HRT of
16 days (Prema Viswanath et al., 1992), while Kalia
et al. (1992) observed a gas production of 0.27 m3/kg
TS added in the case of apple pomace. Anaerobic
digestion of mango peel resulted in biogas production of 0.33 m3/kg TS added with 53% methane
content at an HRT of 15 days (Somayaji, 1992).
Mata-Alvarez et al. (1992) have shown that biomethanation of food-market waste resulted in a
production of 0.64 m 3 biogas/kg TS added.
The present study is aimed at utilization of
banana peel and pineapple-processing wastes for
biomethanation in a semi-continuous process for
maximum energy generation, as well as pollution
control.

Key words: Biomethanation, thermo-conversion,

semi-continuous, cellulose, hemicellulose.
INTRODUCTION
There are over 18550 food-processing industries in
India, emanating large quantities of solid wastes
(Nand & Viswanath, 1989). These wastes are either
uneconomically utilized or disposed of as they are,
thereby causing serious pollution problems. Banana
and pineapple are the fruits which are increasingly
being processed for finished products, such as chips,
juices, slices and to some extent pulp. Utilization of
these commodities results in 33 and 35% of waste
generation, respectively (Vimal & Adsule, 1976). In
India the annual production of pineapple and
banana is about 0.7 and 6.4 million tonnes, respectively, amounting to about 0.23 and 2.24 million
tonnes of solid waste, respectively (FAO, 1991).
Fruit-processing wastes are highly biodegradable as
they are rich in organic matter and have a high
moisture content. Above 50% of moisture content, it
is found that bio-conversion processes are more suitable than thermo-conversion processes (Bardiya,
1991).

METHODS
Substrates
Banana peel and pineapple waste were collected
from local industries in and around Delhi. Banana
peel and pineapple-processing waste were chopped
to about 5-10 mm in size for feeding the digesters.
Anaerobic digestion
Narrow-mouth 2.0-1 aspirator bottles were used as
laboratory digesters at 37C temperature. In each
digester 1.6-1.8 1 of cattle dung slurry (10% TS w/v)
was prepared and 10% (v/v) of inoculum from an
active cattle dung digester was added to each
digester. When methane content reached over 40%
(v/v) cattle dung was gradually replaced by either
chopped or powdered banana peel or pineapple
waste. The percentage solids of banana peel and

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

73

74

N. Bardiya, D. Somayaji, S. Khanna

pineapple waste in the feed was 10 and 7.0% (w/v),

respectively. Biogas produced in the digester was
measured by downward displacement of saline
water. Slurry samples for constituents analysis were
withdrawn after two retention cycles were completed.
Constituent analysis
The slurry samples were subjected to oven drying to
estimate moisture content and total solids content
(AOAC, 1975). The dried material was further analyzed as follows: volatile solid and ash content by
igniting a known quantity of sample at 550C for 8 h,
organic matter by colorimetric procedure described
by Datta et al. (1962); total carbohydrates by
Anthrone method; cellulose according to Updegraff
(1969); hemicellulose by method of Deschatelets
and Yu (1986) and total nitrogen by the micro-Kjeldahl method (AOAC, 1975).
Gas analysis
Methane content in the biogas produced was analyzed by using a gas chromatograph (Sigma 2000,
Perkin-Elmer) equipped with a thermal conductivity
detector and a 2-m Porapak Q (80-100 mesh) column. Hydrogen was used as a carrier gas at a flow
rate of 20 ml/min. The oven, injector and detector
temperatures were 60, 80 and 80C, respectively.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The composition of banana and pineapple wastes is

given in Table 1 and the average of five different
batches is shown. Banana peel had very little batch
to batch variations in total solids and other constituents, while pineapple-processing waste showed
greater variations in total solids, carbohydrates and
nitrogen. Thus nitrogen had to be supplemented in
the form of urea solution (10% w/v) with pineapple
waste whenever necessary to adjust the C/N ratio to
40:1.
Biomethanation of banana peel at various HRTs
ranging from 10 to 40 days indicate that at 10 and 20
Table L Characteristics of banana peel and pineapple
waste

Total solidsa
Volatile solidsb
Ash
Organic carbon
Total carbohydrates
Cellulose
Hemicellulose
Total solubles
Total nitrogen
C/N ratio

Banana
peel

Pineapple
waste

10.68
86.65
13.35
41.37
23.44
11.11
5.36
35.89
1.06
39:1

7.80
89.40
10.60
51.85
35.00
19.80
11.70
30.00
0.95
55:1

aPercent total weight.

hPercent total solid unless otherwise mentioned.

1.2

0.3

0.0

10

15

20

25

Weeks

Fig. 1. Biomethanation of banana peel waste. Chopped:

(o) 25 days HRT; (o) 40 days HRT. Powdered: (v) 25
days HRT; (v) 40 days HRT.

days HRT the digesters tend to turn sour within 4

weeks and a constant decrease in methane content
was observed (data not shown). However, at 25 and
40 days HRT stable methane production was
observed (Fig. 1).
Results in Table 2 show that the chopped banana
peel at 25 days HRT gave 38% higher total gas per
day compared to that of at 40 days HRT. A similar
trend was also noticed with powdered banana peel
at 25 days HRT, showing 25% more total gas production per day compared to that at 40 days HRT.
The rate of gas production from chopped banana
peel at 25 days HRT was slightly better in comparison to powdered at 25 days HRT. However, a
reverse trend was noticed at 40 days HRT, where
powdered produced more total gas per day compared to chopped at the same HRT. Chopped
banana peel at 25 days HRT produced the highest
rate of gas compared to all other treatments. In the
case of pineapple-processing waste 10 days HRT
had maximum gas production, with an increase of
17, 24 and 29% over 20, 30 and 40 days HRT,
respectively. However, the variation in total gas production was not reflected in the methane content as
it remained around 50% at all HRTs.
The gas production patterns (Fig. 1) dearly indicate that 25 days HRT is more favourable in both
chopped and powdered banana peel compared to
the other HRT, while 10 days HRT was found to be
more favourable with pineapple-processing waste.
With pineapple-processing waste weekly average gas
production over a period of 25 weeks showed
greater variation (Fig. 2), possibly due to batch to
batch variation in the substrate composition.
The rate of biogas production obtained in the
case of banana peel is in agreement with that

75

Biomethanation of banana peel and pineapple waste

Table 2. Biomethanation of banana peel (chopped/powdered) process performance and constituent degradation

Chopped

Biogas (ml/day)
Yield (l/kg TS)
Methane (%)
Specific rate
Degradation (%)
Total solids
Volatile solids
Total carbohydrates
Cellulose
Hemicellulose

Powdered

25 days
HRT

40 days
HRT

25 days
HRT

40 days
HRT

1210
188
55
0.76

875
219
57
0.55

1160
181
53
0.72

925
231
55
0.58

36
41
65
50
63

28
31
62
40
52

35
40
64
52
57

30
34
66
49
54

aVolume of gas produced per working volume of the digester per day (vol/vol/day).
obtained from mixed fruit and vegetable waste and
apple pomace (Prema Viswanath et al., 1992; Kalia
et al., 1992). Prema Viswanath et al. (1992), using
mixed fruit and vegetable waste, observed an
increase in the rate of gas production with a
decrease in H R T up to 20 days and a decrease in
gas production thereafter. Similar observations have
1.5

1.2

~_.J

0.9

_.J
v

0.6

0.3

0.0

10

15

20

25

Weeks

Fig. 2. Biomethanation of pineapple-processing waste: (o)

10 days HRT; (e) 20 days HRT; (~) 30 days HRT; (v) 40
days HRT.

been recorded by Somayaji and Khanna (1994) using

rice straw as the substrate for biogas. Pineappleprocessing waste digestion was an exception to this.
The rate of gas production showed an increase with
a decrease in H R T up to 10 days, which was also
recorded by Mata-Alvarez et al. (1992) using food
market waste. Banana and pineapple waste showed
a direct increase in yield of biogas with an increase
in H R T until 40 days, which was also reported for
mango-peel biomethanation (Somayaji, 1992).
During the present study it was observed that
reducing the particle size for anaerobic digestion did
not produce any advantageous effect at 25 days
H R T compared to chopped at the same HRT. Similar results have also been observed with various
substrates (Hills & Nikano, 1984; Bardiya, 1991;
Khanna, 1992).
The chemical analysis of banana peel and pineapple-processing waste digester slurries (Tables 2
and 3) showed greater variation in total solids degradation. Chopped banana peel at 25 days HRT
showed 29% more utilization of total solids compared to that at 40 days HRT. A similar trend was
also seen in the case of powdered banana peel,
which gave 17% more substrate utilization compared
to that of powdered at 40 days HRT. Chopped
banana peel at 25 days H R T showed maximum utilization of all constituents, resulting in the highest gas
production rate compared to all other treatments,
while in the case of pineapple-processing waste, 10

Table 3. Biomethanation of pineapple waste: process performance and constituent degradation

HRT (days)
Biogas (ml/day)
Yield (l/kg TS)
Methane (%)
Specific rate"
Degradation (%)
Total solids
Volatile solids
Total carbohydrates
Cellulose
Hemicellulose

10

20

30

40

1682
133
49
0.93

1436
228
50
0.80

1352
322
51
0.75

1300
413
50
0.72

58
62
84
74
77

50
53
81
69
66

49
51
78
67
64

46
48
77
67
61

"Volume of gas produced per working volume of the digester per day (vol/vol/day).

76

N. Bardiya, D. Somayaji, S. Khanna

days H R T showed the highest substrate degradation,

which was a 16, 18, 26% increase over 20, 30 and 40
days HRT, respectively.
Utilization of other constituents, such as volatile
solids, cellulose and hemicellulose, also followed a
similar trend, which was also reflected in gas production patterns. With banana peel, hemicellulose
degradation was found to be higher than that of
cellulose, as has also been observed by Hills and
Roberts (1981). However, this was not always true
with pineapple-processing waste. Dar and Tondon
(1987) reported 50-54% organic matter degradation
with pretreated Lantana residues and apple and
peach leaf litter. Zubr (1986) showed a conversion
efficiency of 54-69% using various fresh and ensiled
plant materials. Hills and Dykstra (1980) recorded
20-40% utilization of volatile solids during digestion
of cannery tomato solid waste.
Thus, the results obtained on biomethanation of
both banana peel and pineapple-processing wastes
suggest their potential and suitability for economically viable waste treatment technology through
anaerobic digestion. The energy generated in the
form of methane when utilized efficiently not only
improves the overall economy of these fruit-processing industries but also provides on-site solutions to
waste-management problems.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are thankful to Dr R. K. Pachauri,
Director, Tata Energy Research Institute, for providing the infrastructure to carry out the present
study and Miss Neena Bakshi for typing the manuscript.

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