Computer-Aided Exergy Analysis of a Creole Avocado Extractive-Based Biorefinery and Sustainable Utilization in Montes de Maria, Colombia

Alejandra Fontalvo-Morales, Segundo Rojas-Flores and Ángel Darío González-Delgado ()
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Alejandra Fontalvo-Morales: Chemical Engineering Department, Nanomaterials and Computer-Aided Process Engineering Research Group (NIPAC), Universidad de Cartagena, Cartagena 130014, Colombia
Segundo Rojas-Flores: Institutos y Centros de Investigación, Universidad Cesar Vallejo, Trujillo 13001, Peru
Ángel Darío González-Delgado: Chemical Engineering Department, Nanomaterials and Computer-Aided Process Engineering Research Group (NIPAC), Universidad de Cartagena, Cartagena 130014, Colombia

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 12, 1-15

Abstract: Creole avocado is the second most widely produced and consumed variety of avocado globally. Due to its commercialization, limited studies have explored its potential for sustainable applications in biorefinery, particularly focusing on reusing the significant amount of waste generated during its consumption. This research evaluates thermodynamic energy losses of a Creole avocado extractive-based biorefinery, which are of critical importance during the fruit valorization process to determine the efficiency and possibilities of optimization, as well as sustainability impacts, through an exergy balance using computer-aided process engineering. The proposed method utilizes the whole fruit to produce three primary bioproducts, with a focus on implementation in the Montes de María region of Colombia. Following the extended mass and energy balance, an in-depth exergetic analysis was conducted, revealing that all process stages exhibited an exergetic efficiency exceeding 50%. The irreversibilities of the process were calculated as 7763.74 MJ/h, the total waste exergy was 2924.42 MJ/h, and the exergy from industrial waste amounted to 7800.42 MJ/h. These findings highlight the potential for optimizing the sustainability of avocado-based production systems through computer-aided analysis as an effective method. This approach accurately identifies exergy losses at each stage, providing precise numerical data and graphical representations. Additionally, it underscores not only the environmental benefits but also the contribution of these systems to enhancing energy efficiency in agro-industrial applications.

Keywords: Creole avocado; exergy; extractive-based biorefinery; computer-aided process engineering (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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