Agro Circular Economy: A case of Low-Cost Extraction of Cellulose out of Agro-Wastes

Abstract

Recent days there is news about agricultural contribution towards air pollution. This is causing chaos among the farmers and general public. The problem is due to the linear system that is adopted by the farmers in agriculture. There is great possibility of reusing and recycling of agro wastes contributing towards circular economy. The present paper addresses the heart of the issue, i.e., economic benefit to farmers from agro waste. Agricultural waste mainly contains Cellulose, Hemi-cellulose and Lignin. The study aimed at developing a low-cost, low-impact, techno feasible procedure of extracting useful cellulose out of agricultural waste. It was also successful in isolating a by-product called lignin which again has many applications as a binding material. These materials have wide Pharmaceutical applications and other second-end commercial product making. The Study outcomes are from the agro waste generated from agricultural fields in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra, India. It has an insight on the cropping patterns, farmer survey outcomes, plans on small scale start-up implementation, basic cost analysis and the barriers in implementation are presented.