Effect of Chemical Treatment Sequence on Pineapple Peel Fiber: Chemical Composition, Thermal Stability and Thermal Degradation Kinetics

Millions of tons of fruit wastes are generated globally every year from residual agriculture, which makes essential to find alternative uses to increase their aggregate value and reduce the impact of environmental damage. The present study aimed to explore pineapple peel as an alternative source of cellulose by evaluating its composition and physical properties, which are essential to provide a clue to its application function diverse. Cellulose was extracted by a sequence of chlorine-free treatments to delignify the fresh pineapple peels, followed by characterization using chemical composition, XRD, FTIR, SEM and TGA to determine its crystallinity, structural properties, morphology thermal characteristics, and thermal degradation kinetic study. The result revealed that the pineapple peel amorphous segments containing hemicelluloses and lignin were extensively removed with increasing chemical treatments, leading to increased purity, crystallinity index and thermal stability of the extracted materials. The maximum degradation, and crystallinity index of the 2B isolated from the PPF are 150 °C and 80.91% respectively. The cellulose content increased from 24.05% (pineapple peel) to 80.91% (bleached cellulose). These results indicated that pretreatment via bleaching has suitable potential applications in nanocrystal production and suggests possible uses in the development of cellulose nanocrystal and application for packaging films.

AKTIVITAS ANTIBAKTERI ISOLAT KAPANG ENDOFIT DARI KULIT NANAS (Ananas comosus (L.) Meer)

Pineapple contains an enzyme called bromelain which is can be used as antiseptic of mouth, antibacterial, antifungal, and disinfectant. Endophytic mold is a microbe that forms colonies in healthy tissues of living organisms, generally, endophytic microbes do not cause harmful symptoms in the tissue of their host. This study aims to isolate the endophytic shell origin of pineapple peel that has acted as an antibacterial. A total of 3 endophytic capsules, Ac-I, Ac-II and Ac-III were isolated from pineapple skin using PDA media. The three isolates were purified and microscopic examinations were performed. Antibacterial testing was performed by fermentation to produce supernatant, then tested using disc method (Kirby-Bauer method) with Staphylococcus aureus and Escerichia coli test bacteria. The 3 isolates obtained only 1 isolate Ac-III isolates that have activity as antibacterial, with the inhibition zone diameter in bacterium Staphylococcus aureus 7.65 mm while in the bacterium Escerichia coli 6,9 mm.

Mushroom Quality Related with Various Substrates’ Bioaccumulation and Translocation of Heavy Metals

Mushrooms are popular due to the nutrition contents in the fruit bodies and are relatively easy to cultivate. Mushrooms from the white-rot fungi group can be cultivated on agricultural biomass such as sawdust, paddy straw, wheat straw, oil palm frond, oil palm empty fruit bunches, oil palm bark, corn silage, corn cobs, banana leaves, coconut husk, pineapple peel, pineapple leaves, cotton stalk, sugarcane bagasse and various other agricultural biomass. Mushrooms are exceptional decomposers that play important roles in the food web to balance the ecosystems. They can uptake various minerals, including essential and non-essential minerals provided by the substrates. However, the agricultural biomass used for mushroom cultivation is sometimes polluted by heavy metals because of the increased anthropogenic activities occurring in line with urbanisation. Due to their role in mycoremediation, the mushrooms also absorb pollutants from the substrates into their fruit bodies. This article reviews the sources of agricultural biomass for mushroom cultivation that could track how the environmental heavy metals are accumulated and translocated into mushroom fruit bodies. This review also discusses the possible health risks from prolonged uptakes of heavy metal-contaminated mushrooms to highlight the importance of early contaminants’ detection for food security.

Antibaterial activity of the extracts of pineapple and pomelo against five different pathogenic bacterial isolates

To combat the infections caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria, natural candidates are being studied to find out antibacterial activity against the drug-resistant microorganisms. Among the variety of natural candidates of plant origin, many fruits have been proved to have potent antibacterial activity. In the current study, we chose pineapple (Ananas comosus), and pomelo (Citrus maxima) to determine their efficacy against some clinical isolates. Fruit samples were subjected to prepare crude, ethanol, methanol and aqueous extract to determine their antibacterial potency. Clinical isolates were used to determine the antibacterial activity of the extracts against them. The isolates were found to be multi-drug resistant. Out of twenty-eight antibiotics, Pseudomonas aeruginosa was resistant to ten antibiotics and Salmonella spp. was resistant to nine antibiotics. Rather than the crude extracts of the fruits, ethanol and methanol extracts showed antibacterial activity towards multi-drug resistant pathogenic bacteria. Aqueous extract did not show any significant antibacterial activity at all. Extracts of pomelo fruit exhibited the highest results whereas pomelo skin and pineapple peel crude extracts were the least effective compared to the other extracts. Ethanol extract of pineapple fruit (against all isolates but Staphylococcus aureus) and methanol extract of pomelo fruit (against all isolates) showed the lowest MIC (minimum inhibitory concentration) of 187.5 μg/ml. MBC (minimum bactericidal concentration) was found (within the range of 500 μg/ml to 1000 μg/ml) only with ethanol and methanol extracts of pomelo and pineapple. As the clinical isolates were found to be inhibited by the extracts, they can be used as an alternative for treating infections caused by these bacteria. Stamford Journal of Microbiology, Vol.11 (1) 2021: 1-6

Evaluation of mango seed kernel and pineapple peels as carbon sources for microbial protease production

Proteolytic enzymes are ubiquitous in occurrence and find multiple applications in various industrial sectors. Although there are many microbial sources available for producing proteases, only a few are recognized as commercial producers. Utilization and recycling of renewable resources that pose threat to the environment can be systematically carried out to bring about resource productivity needed to make human activity sustainable. In the present study, we evaluated the phytochemical, antimicrobial, and protease production ability of mango seed kernel and pineapple peels. The proximate compositions and antimicrobial analysis of Mango seed kernel and pineapple peels were evaluated using standard protocols. We evaluated the protease production of Bacillus megaterium using the mango seed kernel and pineapple peels as the carbon sources. Our results revealed that mango seed kernel has low moisture, ash and crude fibre content but has high oil and crude protein content while pineapple peels have high moisture and fibre content but low in ash, crude protein and oil content. Mango seed extract also demonstrated antimicrobial activities against B. subtilis, less sensitive to B. megaterium and no activity against A. niger. However, the pineapple peel extracted is highly sensitive to B. subtilis and S aureus but demonstrated no activity against P. aeroginosa and A niger. The B. megaterium exhibited higher protease production ability when mango seed kernel was used as a carbon source at all tested concentrations. In conclusion, the information obtained from proximate and antimicrobial analysis of mango seed kernel and pineapple peels serves as a guide for the possible utilization as carbon sources for microbial enzyme production. Thus, both pineapple peel and mango seed kernel can be bio-remediated when used as carbon sources for protease production.

Determination of the point of zero charge of pineapple (Ananas comosus L.) peel and its application as copper adsorbent

Objective: To determine the optimum pH at which the pineapple peel can adsorb the greatest amount of copper. Design/methodology/approach: Sorbent material. The size of the pineapple peel was reduced to 0.250 mm; it was chemically modified with 0.2 M NaOH and 0.2 M CaCl2. Point of zero charge (PZC). Six solutions were prepared with 0.5 g of sorbent in an aqueous medium (with a 3-8 pH range), they were stirred at 225 rpm for 48 h. The derivative method was used to plot the initial pH versus final pH, in order to determine the PZC. Copper adsorption. CuSO4 solutions were prepared in 2, 4, 6, 8 10 mg/L concentrations; 0.1 g of pineapple biomass was added adjusting the pH to 5. The solutions had a contact time of 0 to 24 h. Results: The pineapple peel had a 5.0 point of zero charge (PZC) value, which indicates that pH values higher than the PZC are required to obtain an adsorbent with a negatively charged surface and favor the copper adsorption. A 50% copper removal was obtained in all concentrations after a 1 h contact time. Limitations on study/implications: This research had no limitations. Findings/conclusions: The point of zero charge is a reliable parameter that allows the adsorption process to take place and provides a greater certainty to the metal adsorption process. Meanwhile, pineapple peel can be used as an adsorbent material, consequently reducing its accumulation in open dumps.

Bioethanol production from pineapple peels waste by heat treatment and enzyme hydrolysis: An eco-friendly and economical method

Bioethanol is a renewable energy source with reduced CO2 emission and a better alternate for fossil fuels. The production of bioethanol using low cost agricultural wastes such as fruits waste always remains a better solution for the present environmental and energy problems. The present study focusses on the production of bioethanol from pineapple peel wastes by simultaneous scarification and fermentation process in a completely eco-friendly manner and economical manner. The fruit wastes are rich sources of sugars and can be utilized for the production of second generation fuel. Initially, cellulase producing potent bacterial isolate was isolated from soil sample collected from fruit market (Uzhavar Santhai), R.S. Puram, Coimbatore district, Tamilnadu, India. Further, the bacterial isolate was identified by 16S rDNA sequencing and the sequence was submitted in GenBank with the accession number MW227436. The phylogenetic tree was constructed and the bacterial isolate was identified as Bacillus cereus strain JK79. Pineapple peel waste was processed, heat pretreated and was utilized for enzymatic saccharification with crude cellulase enzyme to hydrolyze cellulose into simple sugars. The enzyme hydrolyzed content was allowed to undergo fermentation simultaneously (Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation) utilizing Saccharomyces cerevisiae to produce bioethanol. The yield of bioethanol was determined by potassium dichromate method. About 10.07 g/l of bioethanol was obtained by fermenting the enzymatically hydrolyzed pineapple peel waste using Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The production of bioethanol was confirmed by GC-MS.

Characterization of Bacterial Nanocellulose - Graphite Nanoplatelets Composite Films

Bacterial cellulose (BC) was synthesized from pineapple peel extract media with addition of fermentation agent bacteria Acetobacter xylinum. BC was disintegrated from the pellicle into bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) by using a high-pressure homogenizer (hph) machine, which has a three-dimensional woven nanofibrous network. The synthesis of composite films started when BNC, graphite nanoplatelets, and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) were homogenized using an ultrasonic homogenizer then baked on a glass mold at a temperature of 80 degrees Celcius for 14h. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to analyze its morphology. X-Ray diffraction spectra were used to analyze the composite films structure. The functional groups of the composite films were analyzed using the FTIR spectrum. SEM micrograph shows that GNP was evenly distributed into BNC matrix after CTAB addition. GNPs are shown as flat and smooth flakes with sharp corners. Some peak corresponds O-H, C-H, C≡C, and CH3 stretching was identified by using FTIR spectroscopy at wavenumber 3379, 2893, 2135, and 1340 cm-1, respectively. XRD analysis shows that Crystalline Index (C.I) of BNC increases after 2.5 wt% addition of GNP. The presence of CTAB decreases C.I value of composite films. BNC/GNP composite films have the best mechanical properties with Young’s modulus about 77.01 ± 8.564.