Researchers from the University of Nottingham and the National Research and Innovation Agency of The Republic of Indonesia have been working together to address a major challenge to the sustainability of chocolate production.
The new study, published in Chemical Engineering Science, explored the current issues in the sustainability of chocolate production and how changes could decrease the amount of waste.
Three quarters of the crops used to make chocolate are discarded as waste. In Indonesia, which represents 13% of the world’s cocoa production, this means that over 500,000 tonnes of waste are being discarded on the fields, leading to crop disease and air pollution problems.
Cacao fruit consists of cacao pod and cacao beans, with only the beans used as raw material in the chocolate industry.
In 2021, the production of cacao beans was 5.6 million tonnes from 11.5 million hectares worldwide, with the top three countries, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Indonesia, contributing to 67% of total production.
During production, cacao pod husk (CPH) is generated as the main by-product, which accounts for 76–86% of wet cacao fruit weight, where ten tonnes of wet CPH are discarded to produce every tonne of dried cacao bean.
This study aimed to identify ways to reduce waste and make the chocolate industry more sustainable using these findings.
The study authors, led by Dr Shinta Rosalia Dewi, and including Associate Professor Eleanor Binner, Senior Research Fellow Lee Stevens, Research Fellow Yujie Mao, Associate Professor Rebecca Ferrari, and Professor Derek Irvine from the University of Nottingham, found that CPH has potential as a raw material for producing phenolic-based antioxidants and other valuable materials that can increase its economic value while reducing environmental waste.
In collaboration with the National Research and Innovation Agency of The Republic of Indonesia, the researchers showed that cacao waste could be used to produce valuable biochemicals and materials with potential applications in food, bioenergy and pollution treatment.
Associate Professor Eleanor Binner, from the Faculty of Engineering said: “This work, led by Dr Shinta Dewi enabled her to access Nottingham’s fantastic laboratory facilities, including our unique microwave processing equipment, to learn skills and generate results to support the development of biorefinery processes to address agricultural waste in Indonesia. It’s an important area of study and addresses a key problem in the sector.”