Pineapple is a perennial fruit-bearing tropical plant that is well known throughout the world.

It belongs

to the Bromeliaceae family, which has more than 2500 species. Originally cultivated in South America, it then

gradually started to be grown in other parts of the world as a result of travelers and historians visiting South

America. Today, about 25 million tons of pineapple are produced throughout the world, making it the third most

consumed fruit after bananas and citrus fruits.

Pineapple is propagated asexually from fruit crown, suckers produced at the base of the plant or plantlets

produced on the inflorescence below the flowers. The fruit crown is the top of the pineapple fruit. To grow it,

cut it off about an inch below the leaf cluster. Trim away the outer fruit portion and a few of the basal leaves

leaving some of the inner core. Allow the cut end to dry for a week to discourage rotting. Plant in moist, well-

drained soil with bright, indirect light. This is the slowest method of growing a pineapple fruit and can take at

least 24 months to flower.

Pineapple in China and India is popular for the fruit enthusiast in its fresh as well as prepackaged forms

of food like squashes, jelly, and jam (Debnath, et al., 2019). Pineapple has been used as medicinal plant in

several native cultures. The leaf, stem, and fruit of pineapple consist of good amounts of vitamins, organic acids,

sugars, and many proteinase enzymes, including bromelain and peroxidases (Pavan et al., 2012; Monji et al,

2015).

As reported by Galintin et al. (2021), ecoenzymes contain proteases, amylase, and lipase. The

biocatalytic activity (lipase, amylase, and protease) in the eco-enzyme solution was determined by changing the

pH to pH 6, 6.5, 7, 7.5, and 8.

Pineapple (Ananas comosus) is a very important fruit among the very common the world has ever

known with over 20% contributions to the global production of tropical fruits [1]. Its origin is traced to the

Amazon basin of South America and specifically to Brazil and Paraguay. It is now found as an abundant fruit

with several domestic and industrial applications worldwide. Pineapple is very rich in sugar, enzymes e.g.

bromelain, digestive acids, vitamins, minerals and fiber [2]. Approximately 24.8 million tons of pineapple is
produced globally in recent years most of which comes from Costa Rica, Brazil, Philippines, Thailand,

Indonesia, India, Nigeria, China, Mexico and Columbia [3]. Being the world number 7 and African number 1

producer of pineapple, Nigeria produces about 1.42 million tons yearly.

Pineapple, (Ananas comosus), perennial plant of the family Bromeliaceae (Bromeliaceae is a

morphologically distinctive and ecologically diverse family originating in the New World. Three centers of

diversity, 58 genera, and about 3,140 bromeliad species are currently recognized (Zanella et al., 2012)) and its

edible fruit. Pineapple is native to tropical and subtropical America and has been introduced elsewhere. The

plant has 30 to 40 stiff succulent leaves closely spaced in a rosette on a thick fleshy stem. In commercial

varieties about 15 to 20 months after planting, a determinate inflorescence forms on a flower stalk 100–150 mm

(4–6 inches) in length. (Britannica, 2024).

Pineapple (Ananas comosus), a tropical fruit belonging to the Bromeliaceae family, is rich in vitamins A

and C, flavonoids, tannins, and various phenolic compounds. Pineapple peel is one of the antioxidant sources

that could be beneficial for preventing oxidative stress and associated diseases such as antiinflammatory,

anticancer, monitoring nervous system function, and healing bowel movement. However, improper disposal of

pineapple peels can have a detrimental impact on the environment, necessitating innovative methods to convert

them into valuable products.

Pineapple fruit is rich in vitamins A and C, flavonoids, tannins, and other polyphenolic compounds,

organic acids, and soluble monosaccharides and disaccharides (up to 15%). Pineapple fruit is also low in sodium

and rich in potassium. Pineapple residue contains high concentrations of vitamins, sugars, fibers, and other

constituents which can be used for human consumption. Pineapple is a rich source of manganese, which helps

build and maintain bone strength and it also has plenty of vitamin C. It also contains bromelain, that can reduce

swelling, bruising, healing time and pain associated with injury and surgical intervention. The phytochemical

analysis of the pineapple peel showed that, alkaloids, flavonoids and saponin had the highest abundance of the

phytochemical properties; and phenolic, tannins and terpenoids were present as moderately as well as glycoside
and steroids as trace amount. Chlorogenic acid and ferulic acid in aqueous pineapple extract is considered

having an important role as reducing agent or antioxidant.

However, some researchers have reported that pineapple peel is a potential source of bioactive

compounds, such as vitamin C, carotenoid, phenolic compounds, flavonoids, and these compounds have been

reported to have antioxidant activity and various biological activities. However, these bioactive compounds are

varied depending on many factors, including cultivar, pre-and postharvest treatment and particularly method for

raw material and extract preparation. Also, some studies confirmed the antioxidant activity of pineapple peel

extract. Chlorogenic acid and ferulic acid in aqueous pineapple extract is considered having an important role as

reducing agent or antioxidant

Waste generated from pineapple fruit is an important concern in the context of effective waste

management. Therefore, it is useful to exploit of such waste with a view to the optimal exploitation of the waste.

By appropriate extraction technologies to extract important nutritional and bioactive components is an important

concern in the waste. This study reviews pineapple peel as becomes a profitable by-product, given its unique

aroma, abundant volatile compounds, and nutritional values and the processing of waste into food and other

application. In pineapple waste, many reusable substances with a high final value are found. There are

significant amounts of high-value bioactive compounds in various waste generated from pineapple, such as a

crown, peel or skin, core, etc. The results obtained in this study showed that pineapple peel has varying degrees

of antimicrobial activity, anticancer and antioxidant activities. The results also revealed the presence of

medicinally important constituents in peel. Many evidences gathered in earlier studies have confirmed the

identified phytochemicals to be bioactive. Therefore, pineapple peel could be used as a good source of

nonpharmacological treatment in the form of processed food and instant drinks and a promising source of

metabolites for therapeutics, functional foods, and cosmeceutical applications.

 The top five pineapple producers worldwide in 2017 were reported as Costa Rica (3056.45 metric tons),

Philippines (2671.71 metric tons), Brazil (2253.90 metric tons), Thailand (2153.18 metric tons), and India

(1891.00 metric tons) (Statista, 2020). Pineapple is mainly cultivated in the tropical and sub-tropical regions

due to the temperate climate and rainfall distribution. The crop can bear fruits at an early stage after flowering,

allowing yield production throughout the year (Shamsudin, Zulkifli, & Kamarul Zaman, 2020).

Tenderness is a crucial palatable quality affecting consumers’ preference to meat products (Miller et

al. 2001), and the upgrading of low-value meat with guaranteed tenderness will favor products with higher price

(Zhu et al. 2019).

Figure 1. Pineapple Producing Countries

Figure 2. Pineapple Wastes

Recently, Gagaoua et al. (2021) highlighted that the use of plant proteases is an emerging sustainable approach

to enhance meat tenderness. Particularly papain is one of the main plant proteases used to tenderize artificially

meat due to its ability to break down both myofibrillar proteins and connective tissue (Gagaoua, Dib, et al.,

2021)

Pineapple (Ananas comosus) is the important horticultural crop of the family Bromeliaceae positioning as the

important fruit due to its easy affordability to mass population, high nutritional value, pleasant flavor and taste

(Samreen et al., 2020, Ali et al., 2020, Roda and Lambri, 2019, Pandit et al., 2020, Baidhe et al., 2021).

Pineapple is one of the commercially important fruit crops of India. Pineapples are cultivated on more than a

million hectares of soil, resulting in United Sate dollar (US$) 9 billion to the global economy annually (Chen et

al., 2019, Yabor et al., 2020, Kumar, 2021).

Major greenhouse gases are produced due to the consumption of fossil fuels leading to global warming (Pasin

et al., 2020; Pattnaik et al., 2020). Hence, the biobased sources are supplemented as the fuel sources for the

production of biofuels in a sustainable manner. Biomass has a promising potential to suffice global energy and

other renewables requirements. Also, such sustainable-based resources support economic development along

with an eco-friendly environment (Sarangi et al., 2020a). Thus, harnessing renewable sources can be focused
on the production of energy and biochemicals in a sustainable manner utilizing novel technologies (Srivastava

et al., 2021, Yadav et al., 2021).

Organic biomass embodies an eco-friendly source of energy thereby mitigating the problems caused by

improper waste disposal (Chhandama et al., 2022, Hoang et al., 2021a; Hoang and Pham, 2021). Conversion of

various food processing wastes (FPW) into valuable products and bioenergy will not only reduce environmental

pollution but also facilitate operation of a circular bioeconomy for future generations (Mohanty et al., 2022,

Velvizhi et al., 2022, Cao et al., 2020).

Therefore, the biotechnological and robust approaches may be applied for sustainable use of pineapple by-

products due to the enormous availability of phytochemicals, antioxidants, biofuels, and phenolic compounds

(Bhatia et al., 2021).

During the processing of pineapple fruit, a lot of biodegradable pineapple solid waste is generated including

the crown, peel, core, and base. Pineapple waste is endowed with unique properties that are vital for the

development of the food, pharmaceutical, and energy industry (Rabiu et al., 2018; Tanamool et al., 2020).

Therefore, the use of environmentally polluting by-products from pineapple for the development of high-value

products can improve the sustainable use of pineapple waste as well as improve the economic value for the

farmers (Franklyn da Cruz et al., 2018; Rabiu et al., 2018).

The preparatory stages of the drying process line result in the generation of biodegradable solid waste such as

the crown, peel, core, and culled pineapple. Waste constitutes close to half of the total pineapple weight

(Dorta and Sogi, 2017; Franklyn da Cruz et al., 2018; Izundu et al., 2016; Pardo et al., 2014; Tanamool et

al., 2020). Therefore, the use of large volumes of pineapple in drying translates into the immense generation of

pineapple solid waste.

With this huge production, it is expected that a lot of pineapple waste is generated. However, pineapple waste

is majorly dumped on landfills resulting in environmental adulteration (Ayeni et al., 2019). Nonetheless, there

is slow adoption and uptake of the different scientific waste conversion methods to generate more energy for

the population. For instance, using pyrolysis, pineapple waste in Nigeria is converted into end-user energy

products such as producing charcoal, char, and bio-oil (Rabiu et al., 2018). Biomass energy in Nigeria is
limited to traditional cooking and off-grid heating particularly in rural areas (Ayodele et al., 2019; Jekayinfa

et al., 2020).

Pineapple waste management in South Africa, however, could be offering more challenges than the anticipated

benefits. Presently, much of the agro-based and biodegradable waste in South Africa are either burnt or

disposed of in landfills (Ugwu and Enweremadu, 2020).

Several studies have reported the potential for use of pineapple waste for animal feed (Buliah et al.,

2019; Kyawt et al., 2020; Omwango et al., 2013). Conversion of pineapple waste into shelf-stable animal feed

helps improve the situation (Buliah et al., 2019). Pineapple waste such as leaves (crown) and stem can be

converted into pellets for use in domestic birds and animals (Buliah et al., 2019; Zainuddin et al.,

2014; ZAINUDDIN, 2015). Pineapple waste is rich in fiber thus can serve as an energy source while enabling

digestion in poultry, and cattle (Buliah et al., 2019).

With this huge production, it is expected that a lot of pineapple waste is generated. However, pineapple waste

is majorly dumped on landfills resulting in environmental adulteration (Ayeni et al., 2019). However, there is

still slow field-based implementation and institutional adoption of the pineapple waste utilization methods yet

with a lot of research works. Several biomass-to-energy conversion technologies have been studied in Nigeria

including mechanical, thermochemical, and biochemical conversion processes (Jekayinfa et al., 2020).

However, the country continues to suffer energy-related challenges as less than 40% of the population has

access to electric power (Audu et al., 2020; Jekayinfa et al., 2020).

Nonetheless, there is slow adoption and uptake of the different scientific waste conversion methods to generate

more energy for the population. For instance, using pyrolysis, pineapple waste in Nigeria is converted into end-

user energy products such as producing charcoal, char, and bio-oil (Rabiu et al., 2018). Biomass energy in

Nigeria is limited to traditional cooking and off-grid heating particularly in rural areas (Ayodele et al.,

2019; Jekayinfa et al., 2020). Also, there is scarce use of biogas technology within the Nigerian population

despite its enormous benefits. This explains the under-utilization of the huge volumes of agricultural waste in

the country for energy generation.

The pineapple market is escalating due to its nutritional value since they are known to be an abundant source

of vitamins A, and C and organic acids. It contains carbohydrates, water, crude fiber, protein, and

other micronutrients such as calcium, potassium, and manganese, essential for maintaining

balanced nutrition (Anjaly et al., 2022), therefore its consumption is often equated with numerous health

benefits, including digestion improvement (Lobo & Siddiq, 2017). There are different cultivars and varieties

around the globe. Major varietal groups include Cayenne, Queen (Preetha et al., 2023), Spanish, Pernambuco,

and Peroleea which cater to numerous varieties. Among them, Smooth Cayenne comprises more than 70% of

pineapple cultivation around the globe (Sun et al., 2016).

The potential aim of these emerging strategic routes is to constitute long-term sustainable policies with

ecological and socio-economic benefits (Scarano et al., 2022, Al-Obadi et al., 2022, Numa et al., 2023). The

term ‘bio-economy’ refers to the recycling and valorization of renewable agro-industrial wastes into a medley of

novel value-added products such as feed, food, chemicals, energy, and fuel, whereas, the concept of ‘circular

economy’ counts upon the transformation of the linear economy into a system of a closed loop. However, the

concept and methodology of ‘bio-economy’ and ‘circular economy’ are different, but their core principles aim at

the enactment of sustainable approaches for efficient re-use and re-cycling of agro-industrial wastes. Pineapple

by-products are a cornucopia of biologically active compounds including dietary fibers, pectin, polyphenols, and

others, that could be tapped for utilization in various realms (Awasthi et al., 2022).

Utilizing pineapple by-products to develop coatings and films seems to be a win–win strategy, as routing these

not only can improve the functionality of packaging materials but indirectly also contributes to reducing waste

and maintaining environmental sustainability (Chaudhary, 2023, Munekata et al., 2023).

It also contains bromelain, bioactive and functional compounds and is considered a dietary supplement (Azizan

et al., 2020, Pavan et al., 2012). It has acceptable levels of antinutrients factor such as tannin and phytic

acid (Bakri et al., 2020). In addition, the waste can be exploited as a high-quality animal feed through the Solid-

State Fermentation (SSF) technique to increase their protein contents (Aruna et al., 2019). Thus, it reveals that

pineapple waste has a significant advantage to be converted as value-added products.

Pineapple skin (peels) contains a high concentration of bromelain followed by core, crown and stem (Misran et

al. 2019). Bromelain is an enzyme that helps the texture of flesh become more tender and soft. It also reduces

inflammation in the body. The active ingredients in bromelain are the mixture of cysteine proteases. These

enzymes break down the proteins in the food, releasing small peptides. It is critical to improve growth

performance by increasing protein digestibility and rapid absorption.

Pineapple fruit obtain a good property with excellent quality, special flavor, and nutritional richness. Each

pineapple fruit can provide many parts such as peel, core, crown, and pulp with various utilization (Fig. 3). For

example, the nutrients of pineapple juice are important vitamins such as vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B 3,

vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and many compounds useful to human health (Mohd Ali et al., 2020). Their wastes can

still contain many valuable chemical components such as celluloses (Vieira et al., 2022).

Recently, Aili Hamzah et al. (2021) overviewed the conversion of pineapple wastes as potential precursors for

production of value-added products such as biofuels, biogasses, cellulose nanocrystals, biodegradable

packaging and bio-sorbent.

Pineapple waste can also be found in a variety of places, mainly in the food and flavour sectors that produce

pineapple-based products. Pineapple waste biochar has various advantages, including high sorption capacities,

good modifiability and reusability, insensitivity to toxic materials, and ease of use in treatment processes.

Physical and chemical treatment, de-glycosilation, and inorganic/organic activations may improve the

absorption stability and performance of biomaterials.

The pineapple or Ananas comosus, belongs to the Bromeliaceae family and is grown in tropical and subtropical

areas. India is currently the second-largest producer of fruits after Brazil due to its large-scale fruit cultivation

(Lahiri et al., 2023; Ranjan et al., 2022). Almost 9% of the fresh pineapple produced worldwide is produced by

India, the fourth-largest pineapple grower in the world (Devi & Ghatani, 2022).

Pineapple is a nutrient-rich fruit that includes potassium, copper, manganese, and magnesium as minerals,

vitamin C, vitamin B6, folate, and thiamine as vitamins, as well as dietary fibre (Chaudhary et al., 2019) and

contains deficient fat and cholesterol. These are vitamins and minerals essential for human growth and

development.

Drying improves food products’ shelf life, ensuring consistency in product quality, nutritional value, and

extended consumption time. In extraordinary situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in 2020, the

food supply chain’s instability causes disruption in food product availability on the market with extended

lockdowns and limited movement (Shahidi, 2020) (Hobbs, 2020). In these situations, perishable products

create a considerable waste between supply chain layers (Ivanov, 2020).

The pineapple (Ananas comosus L.) is widely cultivated in numerous tropical and sub-tropical countries.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), global fresh pineapple

production was approximately 28.65 million tons in 2021 (FAOSTAT, 2023). The top five leading countries in

pineapple production were Costa Rica, Philippines, Brazil, Thailand, and Indonesia (FAO, 2023). Pineapple is

widely consumed around the world in various forms, such as fresh fruit, canned pineapple, and juice. Pineapple

processing generates several by-products, including peel, core, stem, crown, and leaves, which account for 60

% (w/w) of the total pineapple weight (Campos et al., 2020; Singh et al., 2018). It is estimated that pineapple

peel alone accounts for around 29–40 % of the total fruit weight (Zakaria et al., 2021).