Compositional Analysis and identification of bio-oil in Iraqi Date Pits

Abstract

Iraq is known with the abundance of date palm trees. This can be an important source of food nutrients and agricultural waste for energy. Date pits represent 18-20% of the fruit weight, and are recognized for their oil content and other nutritional components. This agricultural waste can be of great importance as a source of biofuel or useful nutritional compounds. In this paper, date pits of the most common variety of dates in Iraq named Zahdi, was investigated for compositional analysis and biomass value assessment. Samples of dried pits were examined for sugars, wax & chlorophyll and total inorganic ash content. In addition, structural sugars were examined to assess the potential of producing biofuel from date pits. It is found that the total content of structural sugars was 62.16% mainly Arabinose (53.56%). This highly significant percentage of Arabinose in date pits has not been reported in literature till the present. Further analysis of the volatile organic compounds in the pits via pyrolysis, identified a rare sugar in nature named D-allose. It is believed that thermochemical conversion of polysaccharides has led to produce the monosaccharide d-allose sugar. It is the first time ever to identify this rare sugar in Iraqi date pits with a noticeable amount. The importance of this finding comes from the recent medical investigations that proved the inhibiting activity of D-allose on many carcinoma cells in the human body.