Large amounts of secondary date waste (pulp and seeds) are produced and discarded in Tunisia without proper valorisation methods. To study the possibility of valorising different varieties of Tunisian date waste (pulp and seeds) via anaerobic digestion, batch biochemical methane potential (BMP) tests were carried out under mesophilic temperature. The bio-methane production curves were fitted to the model of modified Gompertz in search of the kinetic parameters. The bio-chemical characterisation of the substrates from different varieties (total and volatile solids, COD and contents in carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, polyphenols) was realised. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to investigate the correlations between the model parameters and biochemical variables. Results show that the biochemical compositions of date pulp and seeds strongly depend on the varieties. The BMP are in the range of 0.295-0.345 and 0.267-0.327 Nm3 CH4·kg COD-1 for pulp and seeds respectively, resulting from the significant biochemical variance among the varieties. The BMP of date seeds was significantly correlated with their VS/TS ratio, carbohydrate and protein contents (p < 0.05). For the pulp, significant correlation was found between BMP, carbohydrate and lipid contents. PCA shows that certain varieties (like pulp and seeds of Deglet Nour and seeds of Bejou) are most suitable for being valorised by anaerobic digestion. The most suitable date varieties for this innovative approach were revealed. This research provided useful knowledge for bioconversion of waste date pulp and seeds to biomass energy.
Keywords: Phoenix dactylifera L; Waste date pulp and seeds; biochemical composition; mesophilic anaerobic digestion; principal component analysis.