Conversion of Three Types of Waste Biomass in Ghana (Coconut Shell, Coconut Husk and Mahogany) into Liquid Smokes and Determination of the Sensory Profiles (original) (raw)

The disposal of large amounts of waste biomass generally regarded as rubbish and pollutants is a major environmental management problem in Ghana. The challenge, therefore, was to convert the large amounts of waste biomass into useful products. In developed countries, plant based waste biomass are converted into Liquid Smoke which is used as a substitute to wood smoke during the traditional smoking of fish. In this study, liquid smoke was produced from coconut shell, coconut husk and mahogany wood by pyrolysing separately known weights of each biomass in a closed system, and absorbing the smoke in water by passing the condensed smoke vapours at 6 o C through three flasks filled with distilled water and connected in series (Flask 1 ̶ Flask 2 ̶ Flask 3) to obtain a liquid smoke fraction in each flask. Yields of liquid smoke from coconut husk, Mahogany and coconut shell were 40.0%(v/w), 23.25%(v/w) and 15.6%(v/w) respectively. The yields, pH, colour, and flavour profiles of the Liquid smokes depended significantly (p≤0.05) on the type of biomass, and the liquid smoke fraction. However, Liquid smokes from different batches of the same biomass did not differ significantly (p>0.05) in yields, pH, colour, and flavour profiles. The production setup could easily be scaled up into a simple, affordable, and easy to maintain form for community-level liquid smoke production ventures to convert waste biomass into Liquid smoke. This would be a more productive, sustainable and cleaner way to manage waste biomass in Ghana than the current practices of burning and prolonged decomposition.