1Division of Post-harvest & Value Addition / Division of Crop Improvement, ICAR-National Institute for Research on Commercial Agriculture (NIRCA), RS-Dinhata, Cooch Behar, West Bengal, India
2Division of Post-harvest & Value Addition / Division of Crop Management, ICAR-National Institute for Research on Commercial Agriculture (NIRCA), Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, India
3ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, New Delhi, India
*Corresponding author email id: soilnami@gmail.com
Tobacco is an important ‘gold mine crop’ grown worldwide and fetches a great amount of revenue. Growing tobacco also generates a huge amount of waste during the processing of the tobacco leaves and products at different steps but has barely gotten any attention for valorization. Although tobacco waste is classified under organic waste because of its biogenic origin, it is classified as toxic and hazardous waste if the nicotine content exceeds 500 mg/kg dry weight. To date, the disposal of tobacco waste is a great stumbling block to the tobacco-based industries as the waste could be harmful to both the environment and human health. Burning and/or dumping in landfills is a common practice, but this can potentially trigger serious environmental pollution and causes wastage of significant and cheap resources for valorizing into products. The composition analysis showed that non-structural sugars in modified or unmodified tobacco leaves are comparable to those of energy crops (switchgrass, miscanthus), whereas lignin content in tobacco leaves is significantly lower. The range of other products that could possibly be appraised is diverse and includes bioethanol, biodiesel, bio-oil, biochar, compost, biomethane, enzymes like cellulase, textile fiber, dye, levulinic acid, heavy metal bioremediating carbon dots, nitrocellulose, and many such. Available literatureon this area is rarely available in a single paper. Thus, there is a lack of any comprehensive review comprising these aspects in detail under the same roof. This review is compiled with all possible alternative uses and transformation of tobacco-based waste to wealth invasively.
Tobacco is an important cash crop.
Growing tobacco generates a considerable amount of hazardous waste.
Disposal of tobacco waste is an environmental nuisance.
Can be considered an energy crop module.
Can be valorized for many products.
Tobacco waste: hazardous, Toxic, Alternative use: biofuel, Biochar, Bioremediation
