"Smell control, pest control" Rural Development Administration diversifies recycling of citrus byproducts

(Jeonju=Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Jin-bang = Citrus by-products, which were discarded as waste after extracting juice, have been reborn as eco-friendly agricultural materials. The Rural Development Administration announced on the 6th that it has developed a resource recycling technology that can repurpose citrus by-products as odor reducers, pest attractants, and soil conditioners. In South Korea, about 10% of the annual citrus production (approximately 40,000 tons as of 2024) results in citrus by-products, but most of them have been discarded or simply used as feed for livestock farms. The RURAL research team, in collaboration with industries and universities, developed the technology with the goal of diversifying the use of citrus by-products. The odor reducer is made by sterilizing and neutralizing citrus by-product leachate (effluent), and then cultivating useful microorganisms such as lactic acid bacteria, acetic acid bacteria, and yeast. When the odor reducer was applied to ...