Valorization of waste biomass for synthesis of carboxy-methyl-cellulose as a sustainable edible coating on fruits: A review

The coating on fruits and vegetables increases the shelf-life by providing protection against their spoilage. The existing petroleum-based coating materials have considerable health threats. Edible coating materials prepared with the cellulose derivative extracted from the waste biomass could be a sustainable alternative and environ-ment friendly process to increase the shelf-life periods of the post-harvest crops. Selection of suitable waste biomass and extraction of cellulose are the critical steps for the synthesis of cellulose-based edible film. Con-version of extracted cellulose into cellulosic macromolecular derivatives such as carboxy-methyl-cellulose (CMC) is vital for synthesizing edible coating formulation. Applications of sophisticated tools and methods for the characterization of the coated fruits would be helpful to determine the efficiency of the coating material. In this review, we focused on: i) criteria for the selection of suitable waste biomass for extraction of cellulose, ii) pretreatment and extraction process of cellulose from the different waste biomasses, iii) synthesis processes of CMC by using extracted cellulose, iv) characterizations of CMC as food coating materials, v) various formulation techniques for the synthesis of the CMC based food coating materials and vi) the parameters which are used to evaluate the shelf-life performance of different coated fruits.

Automated summary

Coating on fruits and vegetables helps prolong their shelf-life, and using cellulose derivative extracted from waste biomass as an alternative coating material is a sustainable and environmentally friendly approach. The selection of suitable waste biomass, extraction of cellulose, and synthesis of cellulose-based derivatives are critical steps for the production of edible coatings. The use of advanced tools and methods for characterizing the coated fruits is important in evaluating the effectiveness of the coating material.