Complete pineapple waste solutions including decortication for textile production
- Last updated on 11 September 2024
Background Information
In partnership with The Chequered Flag and Kenya-based start-up Mananasi Fibre Ltd are piloting innovative decortication technology to convert pineapple biomass waste into textile-grade fibres and nutrient-rich compost.
Pineapple plantations in Kenya make use of a 3.5 year rotation period at the end of which, after the final harvest, the plants are knocked to the ground, dried and burnt to make way for the next season’s pineapple crops. This is the current practice used by Del Monte Kenya Ltd, headquartered in Thika, Kenya, a leading producer of pineapple and pineapple products with a 40 square kilometre pineapple plantation on the outskirts of Nairobi. This process presents numerous environmental and human health impacts as well as sub-optimal crop rotation efficiencies.
The waste material that results from this process at Del Monte amounts to approximately 40,000 tonnes of dried plant material per year which, when burnt, emits approximately 52,000 tonnes of CO2 along with other particulate and noxious air pollutants. Aside from the contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, these air pollutants pose serious health risks to the neighbouring communities, particularly the densely populated areas near Nairobi. Further, the burning of the biomass waste is detrimental to the next season’s crop as the heat bakes the soil thereby depleting it of vital nutrients and soil microbiota which, altogether, reduces the soil health. To restore soil nutrient levels, Del Monte applies a chemical fertiliser which can lead to further environmental impacts, increased carbon footprint of pineapple production, and increased production costs. Finally, the drying process, which is wholly reliant on sun exposure, is heavily dependent on weather conditions and can take up to six months. This heavily delays planting and reduces the productivity of the plantation.
Embracing circular economy principles, the pilot project aims to address all these problems by intercepting an initial 10% of Del Monte’s available biomass waste – approximately 2,900 tonnes of fresh waste per month – to produce textile-grade fibres and compost which can be sold and used for pineapple production processes.
Using a number of new technologies, as well as existing technologies for novel processes, the project aims to produce 400kg of textile-grade pineapple fibre per day. The reject material from the decortication process, including the pineapple plant stem, decorticator waste and short leaves, also present an opportunity as this waste can be utilised for further fibre extraction, compost, animal feed, and biochar. Through a joint venture with the UK government’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the project is trialing the production of biochar from the reject material. This will be used for various purposes, including the filtration of decorticator wastewater to enable its re-use and the incorporation of biochar into compost to enhance its nutritional yield. The project team aims to produce approximately 4.8 tonnes of biochar per day. Trials for both the wastewater filtration, to enable the re-use of water used for rinsing the decorticators, and compost-biochar mixture for pineapple production are currently underway. Successfully repurposing this waste is crucial to the project’s ambition of providing a complete waste management solution for pineapple producers. Decortication of pineapple fibre is a relatively new technology in Kenya and success in this pilot will serve as a base to test other organic waste streams where it may be applicable.
Through this pilot, the project aims to offer a long-term and sustainable solution to address the challenges associated with pineapple farming, thereby lowering production costs, reducing environmental and human health impacts, and increasing economic circularity.
Photo credit: Chequered Flag
Updates
The project has made significant progress in its business development, technology development and operations despite numerous challenges.
Business Development:
- The project successfully acquired a contract to supply 30 tonnes of textile-grade fibre produced from pineapple leave to NextEvo Naturals in Vietnam, by the end of the year.
- The project continues exploring markets for the pineapple fibre in Vietnam and Bangladesh. The Bangladesh regulations prohibit and do not cater for pineapple fibre, raising challenges with accessing the Bangladesh market. This gap in regulation presents an opportunity to contribute to the development of favourable trade regulations in Bangladesh to bolster the industry.
- Several companies have expressed significant interest in the decorticator technology once it has been commercialised. These include TexFad (Uganda), who are using banana waste to produce fibre; Ananas Anam (Phillipines) who produce alternative leather products using pineapple fibre; and Compagnie Frutiere a large fruit and vegetable distributor in Europe.
- Opportunities to scale-up the project on the Del Monte farm and with other stakeholders in the region are being explored.
Technology developments:
- The project now has 4 decortication machines in place, primarily designed to process pineapple leaves.
- An auto-brushing machine has been designed to improve the quality of fibre to a standard that meets the market requirements.
- The application of the pineapple leaf decortication technology was successfully tested with pineapple stems and banana stems. The fibres produced from the stem have application potential similar to coconut coir. Initial conversations with Coco360 (The FRESHPPACT Project, funded by SMEP) have been undertaken to investigate the use of these fibres in the production of mulch.
Operations:
- Pineapple decortication operations have been expanded to process 3 tonnes of fibre per month. This is expected to be further expanded to 5 tonnes by December 2024.
- The pilot is currently producing approximately 13 tonnes of compost per month. Some of the compost has been applied on the Del Monte fields.
- To date the project has divert 865 tonnes of pineapple waste from the Del Monte fields. This has been used to produce 10 tonnes of textile-grade fibre and 57 tonnes of compost.
- The project site has incorporated the use of renewable energy through the installation of solar; as well as the installation of a rainwater harvesting system.
Biochar trials
- The use of pineapple stems to produce biochar was trialled over a 6 month period. The results show that the production of biochar from pineapple stems is technically viable, however it is not financially viable. As a result, the biochar trials are discontinued. Knowledge outputs on the trial will be published during the course of the next few months. The knowledge products include an integrated business model, a life cycle assessment, a carbon credit road map, a soil nutrient enhancement analysis, and a social impact assessment.
- The project has successfully trialled the use of biochar in wastewater treatment allowing for reuse and improving the quality of waste water released in the environment.
GESI
- The project partnered with 3 local smallholder banana farmers, where the farmers received biochar enriched compost in exchange of their pineapple waste.
- The project has employed 45 staff members for undertaking the operations of this project, 22 of whom are women. The project actively recruits women in all levels and positions in the company, both skilled and unskilled, and certainly doesn’t hold on to the perception that certain jobs are unsuitable for women.
- Extensive occupational health and safety training is provided to project staff. In addition various onsite measures are in place to ensure staff safety, including provision of protective clothing, warning signs, routine inspection and maintenance of machinery; provision of clean water in the fields
- Medical assessments were conducted to ensure that all employees do not have any health issues which may be exacerbated by the roles that they fullfill e.g. an asthmatic in a dusty environment.
- The project provides facilities that cater for staff wellbeing including a canteen where subsidised lunch and tea is provided, clean ablution facilities, and transport to ensure safe commute to and from the project site.
- The project has put in place a weaving workshop which creates employment for women and disabled persons. The workshop makes use of the pineapple fibre to produce crafts-like baskets and mats. The project has partnered with TexFad (a partner on the BANATEX project funded by SMEP in Uganda), to provide training at the workshop.
- The project is committed to supporting local business by making use of local vendors.
GHG Emissions Reduction
- Between 2023 and 2024, the project reached 46 tCO2e reduction and is on track to achieve a reduction of 335-339 tCO2e between 2024 and 2025.