The generation of large quantities of organic waste, currently labeled as residual biomass, is the main disadvantage of the agro-industry.
The most abundant and problematic crop residues are those of a lignocellulosic nature.
This type of material represents about 60% of the vegetal biomass, and its disposal usually involves difficulties due to the volume and the hardly treatable structure that characterize it.
The food and biofuel industries are associated with the enormous accumulation of this waste, such as sugar cane bagasse, coffee husks and husks, corn cob, rice straw, wheat straw and cocoa by-products. The residual biomass has the particularity of being cheap, renewable and abundant. These facts make it an interesting material in various industrial processes.
Cocoa by-products originate in the manufacturing process: the cocoa beans are removed from the cocoa pod peel, fermented and dried for storage and transport. Apart from the cocoa beans, the fruit is composed of a pod peel, bean shell and pulp, which together represent about 70-80% of the fruit by dry weight. This residual biomass until now represented a critical environmental problem for cocoa producing countries. Cocoa, along with wine, bread and beer, is considered one of the oldest fermented foods consumed in the world.
