Characterization of acerola (Malpighia emarginata) industrial waste as raw material for thermochemical processes

Brazil stands out as one of the largest world powers in the agribusiness sector, and with the increase of production capacity, an enormous amount of waste is generated that cause serious environmental problems. Acerola is evidenced as one of the fruits of growing and important commercialization, contributing significantly to regional development through the export of concentrated powder product. Thus, in order to minimize the environmental impacts generated by the local fruit processing industry, the proximate analysis of its residue after drying in a convective oven at temperatures of 50, 75 and 100 °C was carried out in this work, aiming at the reuse of this residue for thermochemical processes. Moisture, ash, volatile matter (VM), and fixed carbon (FC) content were analyzed, as well as characterizations, such as infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), elemental analysis (CHNO), calorific value (HHV) and thermogravimetry (TG/DTG). The results showed a significant difference in the moisture contents, VM, FC and elemental carbon for the dry residue at 50 °C compared to the temperatures of 75 and 100 °C, while for the ash content there was no significant difference between the temperatures. The dry acerola residue at the three temperatures studied presented adequate properties for thermochemical application, with lignocellulosic compounds that can be converted by thermochemical route, good levels of calorific power, low moisture and ash content, associated with high amount of volatile matter.