Waste Biomass (Tamarindus India Seed) Valorization: A Sustainable Perspective

Solid waste biomass utilization is progressively contemplated a practical strategy for sustainable energy supply and long-term environmental care as well as climate action around the world. Consumption & Processing of fruits generates a vast amount of waste, which accounts to 25–30% of the total product. Tamarind seed starch is regarded as a non-edible and low-cost component with several industrial applications. Starch-based waste has been utilized for the production of various value-added products viz. bioethanol, biohydrogen, along with culture development. Lignocellulosic based biomass in terms of seed coat is also helpful in the production of biochar. Present investigation focuses on the extraction of starch from the waste tamarind seed as well as the utilization of its seed coat for biochar synthesis under the holistic utilization approach. It has been observed that HCl treated starch was found quite effective as compared to H 2 SO 4 treatment for the sugar recovery. 2% HCl along with thermal (60 min) starch treatment recovered sugars effectively. Recovered sugars were further utilized for the culture development of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to make the process cost effective. Highest growth (1.574) of S. cerevisiae was achieved at 12 hr. under recovered glucose based on 2% HCl along with thermal treated waste seed starch. Alternatively, Tamarind seed coat biochar was also found quite effective for the decolourization of toxic dyes viz. methyl red and methylene blue. Maximum decolourization percentage (88.74%) was observed with tamarind seed coat biochar (0.5g) of at 3 hr of treatment.