Valorization of coffee by-products in the industry, a vision towards circular economy

• Published in: Discover applied sciences Vol. 6; no. 9; p. 480
• Main Authors: Gil-Gómez, Julie Andrea, Florez-Pardo, Luz Marina, Leguizamón-Vargas, Yuly Camila
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 06.09.2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agricultural wastes; Agriculture; Applied and Technical Physics; Biomass; Bioplastics; Biopolymers; Biorefineries; Byproducts; Chemical oxygen demand; Chemistry/Food Science; Cherries; Circular economy; Coffee; Earth Sciences; Economic growth; Economic impact; Engineering; Environment; Environmental protection; Ethanol; Food industry; Food sources; GDP; Gross Domestic Product; Industrial development; Materials Science; Methods; Refining; Review; Colombia; Biorefineries; Agricultural; Coffee by-products; Biopolymers; Food
• ISSN: 3004-9261; 2523-3963; 3004-9261; 2523-3971
• DOI: 10.1007/s42452-024-06085-9

Coffee production worldwide has grown by almost 200% since 1950 due to increased demand, being the world's most important traded commodity after oil and the second most popular beverage after water, with more than 500 billion cups of coffee consumed annually (Visser and Dlamini in Sustainability 13:6558, 2021). Colombia is the third largest producer and exporter of coffee worldwide (Garcia-Freites et al. in Biomass Bioenerg 140, 2020). Due to its nature, the coffee sector produces a large amount of waste throughout its production chain, with ~ 0.9 kg of accumulated waste per 1 kg of coffee cherries harvested, equivalent to about 4 thousand tons per year for Colombian production (Garcia-Freites et al. in Biomass Bioenerg 140, 2020). Among the variety of remnants or by-products generated are those from plant pruning and coffee processing (Mendoza Martinez in Biomass Bioenergy 120:68–76, 2019, Hejna in Waste Manage 121:296–330, 2021). This diversity of by-products represents a varied source of molecules suitable for utilisation in different industries in a promising way to solve the environmental and economic impacts represented by the disposal of these remnants. This review aims to present the value and utilisation of these by-products in different industries in which several articles published on the subject were compiled and discussed, with utilisation in the food, agriculture, biorefinery and bioplastics industries. Based on the review presented, it is discovered that the by-products of the coffee industry offer many valuable options developed by scientists to generate value in the coffee production chain that contribute to environmental protection with a promising approach in search of a circular economy. Graphical Abstract Article Highlights By-products of the production chain. Characterisation of coffee by-products and utilisation of coffee by-products. Use of coffee by-products in the food industry, agriculture, animal food, in the biorefinery industry and the generation of biopolymers.