Research of avocado waste as multipurpose secondary raw material resources

The growing volume of avocado cultivation and processing is accompanied by the generation of a large amount of waste, which imposes a significant ecological burden on the environment. The core and peel of an avocado contain several compo-nents that allow them to be used as secondary material resources in various industries, including food, cosmetics, and chemi-cals. These components can serve as raw materials for the production of pigments, biofuels, adsorbents, and biodegradable film materials, as well as having antimicrobial and antioxidant effects and containing fibers and other biologically active components.An analysis of recent publications has shown that considerable attention is being paid to researching the problem of using avocado waste. There is an urgent need to study the technological properties of the peel, seed (kernel), and seed coat, and to expand the scope of their application as functional additives to various food and technical products.The purpose of this article is to study the properties of avocado waste, determine their characteristics as thickeners and moisture-retaining components of food emulsion products, and evaluate their use as part of rubber compositions.The article presents the results of the research on the properties of powders obtained from the peel, core, and seed coat of avocados. The indicators of the moisture-retaining capacity of both individual avocado waste and their mixtures with various types of flour were determined. The seed kernel has the lowest moisture-holding capacity (217%), which is explained by the presence of a significant amount of fat in its composition, while the skin and seed coat, which contain a greater amount of fibers, have this indicator at the level of 342% and 431%, respectively. Mixtures of avocado kernel powder (up to 40%) with flax, sesame, and pumpkin flour can serve as thickeners for low-fat food emulsion products.Model rubber mixtures based on natural rubber (NR), with a standard composition of 100 wt. parts were used to evaluate the possibility of using avocado fruit waste in rubber as fillers: 5 wt. parts zinc oxide, 2 wt. parts stearic acid, 3 wt. parts sulfur, and 0.7 wt. parts cap tax. The introduction of avocado powders from the seed core, seed coat, and outer skin of the fruit in the amount of 40 parts by weight into the model rubber mixtures per 100 wt. parts of rubber produced vulcanizates with less elasticity and hardness than those made with kaolin, resulting in softer rubbers. These softer rubbers, due to their lower de-formability index, overheat less, easily acquire the required shape, and are often used as sealants. If it is necessary to obtain harder rubbers, compositions of kaolin with avocado waste can be used as fillers, adjusting the ratio of components. The conducted studies demonstrated the viability of studying the behavior of rubbers in the presence of organic natural components in their composition, both as fillers and modifiers. The use of crushed avocado fruit waste in the composition of rubber helps solve the ecological problem of disposing of food production waste and expands the range of ingredients for the manufacture of rubber products using renewable natural raw materials.