Review of Fungal Valorization for Agricultural Wastes in Latin America

A 647.8 KB literature review authored by Oscar H. López-Balladares and published in March 2026. It critically evaluates integrated valorization methods for four abundant agricultural wastes: cocoa pod husks, coconut shells, rice hulls, and sugarcane bagasse. The paper focuses on fungal solid-state fermentation as a pre-treatment for anaerobic digestion and methane production.

Use Cases

• Extract specific methane production ranges (190–360 L CH4 kg−1 VS) and delignification percentages (3–40%) for cocoa pod husks, coconut shells, rice hulls, and sugarcane bagasse.
• Analyze the review's discussion on enzymatic trade-offs and scalability challenges for fungal solid-state fermentation processes in rural Latin American contexts.
• Identify future research priorities cited in the document, such as enzyme engineering, decentralized pilot projects, and life cycle assessments.
• Compare the documented effects of hydrothermal pre-treatments on the anaerobic biodegradability of the four specified agricultural wastes.

Strengths

• Provides quantified performance metrics, including Biochemical Methane Potential improvements of 20–51%.
• Focuses on four specific, high-volume waste streams (CPH, CS, RH, SB) relevant to Latin America.
• Released under a permissive CC BY 4.0 license for wide reuse.

Limitations

• The dataset is a single 647.8 KB document, offering a literature review rather than primary experimental or observational data.
• Contains no structured, machine-readable data columns or sample records for direct computational analysis.
• Future perspectives are speculative, based on the review's publication date of 2026.

Provenance

Source

figshare platform, authored by Oscar H. López-Balladares.

Collection Method

Literature review and synthesis of existing research.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated March 2026.

Geography

Latin America, with focus on regions producing cocoa, coconut, rice, and sugarcane.