Advanced Sustainable Approaches for the Valorization of High-Value Bioactive Compounds from Agro-Industrial Waste: Challenges and Opportunities

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Security and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2026 | Viewed by 2023

Special Issue Editors

Faculty of Technology in Leskovac, University of Niš, Bulevar Oslobodjenja 124, 16000 Leskovac, Serbia
Interests: extraction; antioxidants; separation; analysis; HPLC-MS; pharmaceutical; optimization; modeling; experimental design; artificial neural network; inclusion; cyclodextrin
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Guest Editor
Faculty of Technology in Leskovac, University of Nis, Bulevar Oslobodjenja 124, 16000 Leskovac, Serbia
Interests: extraction; antioxidants; polyphenols; separation; analysis; chromatography; pharmaceutical technology; optimization; modeling; encapsulation; valorization; stability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims to present bioactive compounds that can be used as potential ingredients in developing value-added agri-food products. Due to the harmful effects of synthetic ingredients, the main focus is on finding natural compounds (polyphenols, minerals, vitamins, lipids, antioxidants, etc.) and raw materials enriched with these compounds that can be used for incorporation into products intended for human or animal use. The valorization of agri-food waste and the recovery of bioactive compounds are increasingly important in scientific research, as they promote sustainability in industry.

This Special Issue can provide a critical review of the advantages and disadvantages of both available traditional and advanced extraction techniques, as well as exploring the development of improved or innovative extraction procedures to draw these bioactive compounds from natural sources. The optimization and innovation of extraction procedures are important to save available resources, improve extraction efficiency, and obtain high-quality isolated bioactive compounds. Advanced analytical techniques are also welcome, as they are key to the identification of bioactive compounds and the estimation of product quality.

Certain compounds exhibit unsatisfactory physicochemical properties and require modification before their further application. Methods used to incorporate compounds to prepare functional foods, such as encapsulation, are needed to improve their properties.

The solutions to these challenges for the scientific community lie in the discovery of new compounds, as well as in assessing the impact of climate change on the availability and quality of bioactive compounds in plants.

Dr. Ivan Savic
Dr. Ivana Savic Gajic
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

  • valorization
  • recovery
  • optimization
  • waste
  • bioactive compounds
  • spectroscopy
  • chromatography
  • encapsulation
  • additives
  • products
  • food

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

22 pages, 4681 KiB  
Article
Extraction and Characterization of Antioxidants and Cellulose from Green Walnut Husks
by Ivan M. Savić and Ivana M. Savić Gajić
Foods 2025, 14(3), 409; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14030409 - 27 Jan 2025
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1742
Abstract
The ultrasound-assisted extraction process with microwave pretreatment was modeled and optimized to maximize the yield of antioxidants from green walnut husks using a response surface methodology with Box–Behnken design. In this design, the ultrasound-assisted extraction time (10–40 min), ultrasound-assisted extraction temperature (40–60 °C), [...] Read more.
The ultrasound-assisted extraction process with microwave pretreatment was modeled and optimized to maximize the yield of antioxidants from green walnut husks using a response surface methodology with Box–Behnken design. In this design, the ultrasound-assisted extraction time (10–40 min), ultrasound-assisted extraction temperature (40–60 °C), and microwave pretreatment time (20–60 s) were selected as the factors, while the total antioxidant content was defined as the response. The solvent of choice for extracting antioxidants was 50% (v/v) ethanol. After optimization using the desirability function, an ultrasound-assisted extraction time of 23 min, ultrasound-assisted extraction temperature of 60 °C, and microwave pretreatment time of 60 s were proposed as the optimal conditions and their validity was verified. Under these conditions, the experimentally determined total antioxidant content was 3.69 g of gallic acid equivalent per 100 g of dry matter. In addition to phenolics, UHPLC–ESI–MS/MS analysis indicated the presence of lipids, quinones, terpenoids, and organic acids in the extract. After the antioxidant extraction, the solid residue was further processed to isolate cellulose in line with the concept of sustainable manufacturing. The structural characterization and hydration properties of cellulose were analyzed to identify its key features and assess its potential for value-added applications. The results demonstrate that green walnut husks are a valuable and cost-effective agro-industrial byproduct for extracting antioxidants and isolating cellulose. This aligns with the principles of a circular economy and the sustainable production of natural compounds. Full article
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