Bananaroot Waste Valorization as Alternative Fuel

Abstract

Around the world, one of the significant difficulties confronting numerous countries is the energy crisis and proper disposal of waste. ‘Jalgaon’ a city in the state of Maharashtra (India) is referred to as ‘Banana City’ as it produces half of the state’s Banana production. In Jalgaon, banana cultivation is carried out in about 45,000 hectares of land. Here, the accumulation of waste roots post-harvest, about 67000 MT, is huge, creating environmental issues. The open dumping of waste roots occupies a huge problem limiting the valuable space in the field. The purpose of this study was to explore an appropriate method to dispose of the banana root waste efficiently. No study has been reported yet to effectively use banana root waste as fuel pellet. In this work, pellets were made out of the banana root waste, without additional binder, and the combustion properties such as proximate analysis, ultimate analysis, high heating value, and thermal decomposition behaviour were studied. The high heating value of the pellets was observed as 16.29 MJ/kg. The results of ash elemental analysis by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) equipped with an Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX) detector showed that ash can be used as adsorbent and fertiliser. The work attempts to convert the banana root into a fuel of good commercial value thereby addressing the waste disposal issue after harvest.