**4. Conclusions**

The results of our work reveal that pomegranate pulps derived from the food processing industry have a high potential for pigment production by *A. carbonarius*. The higher production of yellow pigment (61.84 ± 2.16 AU/g dfm) was obtained for 15 d at initial substrate pH of 6.5 under solid-state fermentation conditions. Moreover, our findings suggest that *A. carbonarius* might produce melanin due to the detection of 1,8-dihydroxynaphthalene by GC×GC-TOFMS and this will be investigated in the future by LC-MS-ToF. Optimal conditions such as incubation time, fermentation strategy, initial pH, and particle size of substrate findings in the current study can give basic information for the scaled-up production of bio-pigment production by filamentous fungus *Aspergillus carbonarius.* However, further studies are needed in order to detect potential utilization industrial areas of this bio-pigment.

**Supplementary Materials:** The following are available online at http://www.mdpi.com/2309-608X/6/4/240/s1, Figure S1: Dried (A) apple pulp, (B) black carrot pulp, (C) pomegranate pulp, (D) red beet pulp, Figure S2: Flow chart of experiments (A) Selection of fungal species and pulp type, (B) Effect of fermentation strategy and incubation period, (C) Effect of substrate particle size, (D) Effect of initial substrate pH, (E) Pigment production at optimal conditions, Figure S3: Potential metabolic pathway of melanin production by *Aspergillus carbonarius* from pomegranate pulp, Figure S4: Images of (A) dyed and (B) undyed fabric pieces without mordanting, (C) dyed fabric pieces with mordanting, (D) undyed fabric pieces with mordanting (Dyeing of cotton fabric made with a fungal pigmented extract obtained by cultivation of *Aspergillus carbonarius* during 15 days on pomegranate pulp).

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, N.D.; methodology, E.B.A.; validation, O.C. and Y.C.; investigation, N.D.; resources, N.D.; writing—original draft preparation, N.D.; writing—review and editing, L.D.; project administration, N.D. and L.D. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
