Submit to Foods Review for Foods Propose a Special Issue

Journal Browser

Value Added Products from Agro-Food Residues

Print Special Issue Flyer
Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Published Papers

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (27 July 2021) | Viewed by 29981

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Ana Blandino

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Chemical Engineering and Food Technologies. Faculty of Sciences, University of Cádiz, Spain.
Interests: agroindustrial waste; agroindustrial subproducts; macroalgae; pretreatments; enzymatic hydrolysis; solid state fermentation; simultaneous saccharification and fermentation; bioplastics; polyhydroxyalkanoates

Dr. Ana Belen Diaz

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Chemical Engineering and Food Technology, Faculty of Sciences, Agrifood Campus of International Excellence (CeiA3), University of Cádiz, 11510 Puerto Real, Spain
Interests: biomass; saccharification; enzymes; solid state fermentation; lactic acid; delignification
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Lignocellulosic biomass has drawn significant attention among the scientific community in the past two decades given that it represents a promising raw material for the production of high added value products. Globally, significant amounts of lignocellulosic residues from trade and industry, forestry, and agriculture activities are generated, most of which are burned as waste disposal. In this regard, this Special Issue deals with updated information about the revalorization of these residues and by-products, either by the production of different value-added products, such as enzymes, biofuels, acids, lipids or polyhydroxyalkanoates, among others, via microbial fermentation or through their extraction for the recovery of bioactive molecules. In this Special Issue, we aim to publish innovative research results and review papers on value added products from agro-food residues.

Dr. Ana Blandino
Dr. Ana Belen Diaz
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Lignocellulose
Agro-food waste
Agro-food subproducts
Bioproducts
Acids
Biofuels
Polyhydroxyalkanoates
Enzymes
Pretreatments
Enzymatic Hydrolysis
Fermentation

Published Papers (11 papers)

Download All Papers

Editorial

Jump to: Research, Review

4 pages, 195 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Value-Added Products from Agro-Food Residues

by Ana Belen Diaz and Ana Blandino

Foods 2022, 11(5), 766; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11050766 - 7 Mar 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1570

Abstract

The agri-food sector produces large amounts of waste annually, most of which is lignocellulosic biomass [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Value Added Products from Agro-Food Residues)

Research

Jump to: Editorial, Review

15 pages, 18225 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Lignocellulose Nanofibre Obtained from Agricultural Wastes of Tomato, Pepper and Eggplants Improves the Performance of Films of Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) for Food Packaging

by Isabel Bascón-Villegas, Mónica Sánchez-Gutiérrez, Fernando Pérez-Rodríguez, Eduardo Espinosa and Alejandro Rodríguez

Foods 2021, 10(12), 3043; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10123043 - 8 Dec 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3032

Abstract

Films formulated with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) (synthetic biopolymer) were reinforced with lignocellulose nanofibres (LCNF) from residues of vegetable production (natural biopolymer). The LCNF were obtained by mechanical and chemical pre-treatment by 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl radical (TEMPO) and added to the polyvinyl alcohol (polymer matrix) with the aim of improving the properties of the film for use in food packaging. The mechanical properties, crystallinity, thermal resistance, chemical structure, antioxidant activity, water barrier properties and optical properties (transparency and UV barrier), were evaluated. In general, with the addition of LCNF, an improvement in the studied properties of the films was observed. In terms of mechanical properties, the films reinforced with 7% LCNF TEMPO showed the best results for tensile strength, Young’s modulus and elongation at break. At the same LCNF proportion, the thermal stability (T_max) increased between 5.5% and 10.8%, and the antioxidant activity increased between 90.9% and 191.8%, depending on the raw material and the pre-treatment used to obtain the different LCNF. Finally, a large increase in UV blocking was also observed with the addition of 7% LCNF. In particular, the films with 7% of eggplant LCNF showed higher performance for Young’s modulus, elongation at break, thermal stability and UV barrier. Overall, results demonstrated that the use of LCNF generated from agricultural residues represents a suitable bioeconomy approach able to enhance film properties for its application in the development of more sustainable and eco-friendly food packaging systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Value Added Products from Agro-Food Residues)

► Show Figures

Graphical abstract

12 pages, 1514 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Several Pretreatments on the Lactic Acid Production from Exhausted Sugar Beet Pulp

by Cristina Marzo, Ana Belén Díaz, Ildefonso Caro and Ana Blandino

Foods 2021, 10(10), 2414; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10102414 - 12 Oct 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1853

Abstract

Exhausted sugar beet pulp (ESBP), a by-product of the sugar industry, has been used as a substrate to produce lactic acid (LA). Due to the fact that ESBP contains a high percentage of pectin and hemicellulose, different pretreatments were studied to solubilize them and to facilitate the access to cellulose in the subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis. Several pretreatments were studied, specifically biological, oxidant with alkaline hydrogen peroxide (AHP), and thermochemical with acid (0.25, 0.5, or 1% w/v of H₂SO₄). Pretreated ESBP was enzymatically hydrolysed and fermented with the strain Lactiplantibacillus plantarum for LA production. The hydrolysis was carried out with the commercial enzymes Celluclast^®, pectinase, and xylanase, for 48 h. After that, the hydrolysate was supplemented with yeast extract and calcium carbonate before the bacteria inoculation. Results showed that all the pretreatments caused a modification of the fibre composition of ESBP. In most cases, the cellulose content increased, rising from 25% to 68% when ESBP was pretreated thermochemically at 1% w/v H₂SO₄. The production of LA was enhanced when ESBP was pretreated thermochemically. However, it was reduced when biological and AHP pretreatments were applied. In conclusion, thermochemical pretreatment with 1% w/v H₂SO₄ had a positive impact on the production of LA, increasing its concentration from 27 g/L to 50 g/L. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Value Added Products from Agro-Food Residues)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 4224 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Monitoring of Food Waste Anaerobic Digestion Performance: Conventional Co-Substrates vs. Unmarketable Biochar Additions

by Nour El Houda Chaher, Abdallah Nassour, Moktar Hamdi and Michael Nelles

Foods 2021, 10(10), 2353; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10102353 - 3 Oct 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2387

Abstract

This study proposed the selection of cost-effective additives generated from different activity sectors to enhance and stabilize the start-up, as well as the transitional phases, of semi-continuous food waste (FW) anaerobic digestion. The results showed that combining agricultural waste mixtures including wheat straw (WS) and cattle manure (CM) boosted the process performance and generated up to 95% higher methane yield compared to the control reactors (mono-digested FW) under an organic loading rate (OLR) range of 2 to 3 kg VS/m³·d. Whereas R3 amended with unmarketable biochar (UBc), to around 10% of the initial fresh mass inserted, showed a significant process enhancement during the transitional phase, and more particularly at an OLR of 4 kg VS/m³·d, it was revealed that under these experimental conditions, FW reactors including UBc showed an increase of 144% in terms of specific biogas yield (SBY) compared to FW reactors fed with agricultural residue. Hence, both agricultural and industrial waste were efficacious when it came to boosting either FW anaerobic performance or AD effluent quality. Although each co-substrate performed under specific experimental conditions, this feature provides decision makers with diverse alternatives to implement a sustainable organic waste management system, conveying sufficient technical details to draw up appropriate designs for the recovery of various types of organic residue. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Value Added Products from Agro-Food Residues)

► Show Figures

Graphical abstract

15 pages, 1673 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessing the Fatty Acid, Carotenoid, and Tocopherol Compositions of Seeds from Apple Cultivars (Malus domestica Borkh.) Grown in Norway

by Milica Fotirić Akšić, Kristina Lazarević, Sandra Šegan, Maja Natić, Tomislav Tosti, Ivanka Ćirić and Mekjell Meland

Foods 2021, 10(8), 1956; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10081956 - 22 Aug 2021

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2633

Abstract

Apple production generates large amounts of apple pomace including seeds, leading to high transportation costs, public health hazards and undesirable odor. A new reuse strategy of this kind of waste could solve environmental issues and/or create unconventional sources of health beneficial products. In total, seeds from 75 apple cultivars grown in Norway (both domestic and international) have been analyzed for the first time for oil content and fatty acid profile together with tocopherols and carotenoids quantification in defatted seeds. Seeds from cultivar Håkonseple had the highest oil content (22.10%), with linoleic, oleic acid, and palmitic acid as the most abundant fatty acids. The levels of β-carotene and lycopene carotenoids and α-tocopherol were the highest in defatted seeds of the cultivar Sureple Grøn. Principal component analysis separated cultivars according to the total oil content. The Norwegian apple cultivars Håkonseple, Kviteple, Tolleivseple, Vinterrosenstrips, and Tokheimseple are recommended for obtaining vegetable oil due to their high oil contents, while cultivar Sureple Grøn can be separated due to its high levels of β-carotene, lycopene and total tocopherols. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Value Added Products from Agro-Food Residues)

► Show Figures

Graphical abstract

14 pages, 2776 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Valorization of Greenhouse Horticulture Waste from a Biorefinery Perspective

by Antonio D. Moreno, Aleta Duque, Alberto González, Ignacio Ballesteros and María José Negro

Foods 2021, 10(4), 814; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10040814 - 9 Apr 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2632

Abstract

Greenhouse cultivation and harvesting generate considerable amounts of organic waste, including vegetal waste from plants and discarded products. This study evaluated the residues derived from tomato cultivation practices in Almería (Spain) as sugar-rich raw materials for biorefineries. First, lignocellulose-based residues were subjected to an alkali-catalyzed extrusion process in a twin-screw extruder (100 °C and 6–12% (w/w) NaOH) to assess maximum sugar recovery during the subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis step. A high saccharification yield was reached when using an alkali concentration of 12% (w/w), releasing up to 81% of the initial glucan. Second, the discarded tomato residue was crushed and centrifuged to collect both the juice and the pulp fractions. The juice contained 39.4 g of sugars per 100 g of dry culled tomato, while the pulp yielded an extra 9.1 g of sugars per 100 g of dry culled tomato after an enzymatic hydrolysis process. The results presented herein show the potential of using horticulture waste as an attractive sugar source for biorefineries, including lignocellulose-based residues when effective fractionation processes, such as reactive extrusion technology, are available. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Value Added Products from Agro-Food Residues)

► Show Figures

Graphical abstract

28 pages, 5075 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Utilization of Cumbeba (Tacinga inamoena) Residue: Drying Kinetics and Effect of Process Conditions on Antioxidant Bioactive Compounds

by João Paulo de Lima Ferreira, Alexandre José de Melo Queiroz, Rossana Maria Feitosa de Figueirêdo, Wilton Pereira da Silva, Josivanda Palmeira Gomes, Dyego da Costa Santos, Hanndson Araujo Silva, Ana Paula Trindade Rocha, Anna Catarina Costa de Paiva, Alan Del Carlos Gomes Chaves, Antônio Gilson Barbosa de Lima and Romário Oliveira de Andrade

Foods 2021, 10(4), 788; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10040788 - 6 Apr 2021

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2472

Abstract

The residue generated from the processing of Tacinga inamoena (cumbeba) fruit pulp represents a large amount of material that is discarded without proper application. Despite that, it is a raw material that is source of ascorbic acid, carotenoids and phenolic compounds, which are valued in nutraceutical diets for allegedly combating free radicals generated in metabolism. This research paper presents a study focused on the mathematical modeling of drying kinetics and the effect of the process on the level of bioactive of cumbeba residue. The experiments of cumbeba residue drying (untreated or whole residue (WR), crushed residue (CR) and residue in the form of foam (FR)) were carried out in a fixed-bed dryer at four air temperatures (50, 60, 70 and 80 °C). Effective water diffusivity (D_eff) was determined by the inverse method and its dependence on temperature was described by an Arrhenius-type equation. It was observed that, regardless of the type of pretreatment, the increase in air temperature resulted in higher rate of water removal. The Midilli model showed better simulation of cumbeba residue drying kinetics than the other models tested within the experimental temperature range studied. Effective water diffusivity (D_eff) ranged from 6.4890 to 11.1900 × 10⁻⁶ m²/s, 2.9285 to 12.754 × 10⁻⁹ m²/s and 1.5393 × 10⁻⁸ to 12.4270 × 10⁻⁶ m²/s with activation energy of 22.3078, 46.7115 and 58.0736 kJ/mol within the temperature range of 50–80 °C obtained for the whole cumbeba, crushed cumbeba and cumbeba residue in the form of foam, respectively. In relation to bioactive compounds, it was observed that for a fixed temperature the whole residue had higher retention of bioactive compounds, especially phenolic compounds, whereas the crushed residue and the residue in the form of foam had intermediate and lower levels, respectively. This study provides evidence that cumbeba residue in its whole form can be used for the recovery of natural antioxidant bioactive compounds, mainly phenolic compounds, with the possibility of application in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Value Added Products from Agro-Food Residues)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 1418 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of Xylooligosaccharides Production for a Specific Degree of Polymerization by Liquid Hot Water Treatment of Tropical Hardwood

by Soo-Kyeong Jang, Jong-Hwa Kim, June-Ho Choi, Seong-Min Cho, Jong-Chan Kim, Hoyong Kim and In-Gyu Choi

Foods 2021, 10(2), 463; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10020463 - 20 Feb 2021

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2266

Abstract

Eucalyptus pellita is known as attractive biomass, and it has been utilized for eucalyptus oil, furniture, and pulp and paper production that causes a significant amount of byproducts. Liquid hot water treatment depending on combined severity factor (CSF) was subjected to isolate hemicellulose fraction from E. pellita and to produce xylooligosaccharides (XOS). The xylan extraction ratio based on the initial xylan content of the feedstock was maximized up to 77.6% at 170 °C for 50 min condition (CSF: 1.0), which had accounted for XOS purity of 76.5% based on the total sugar content of the liquid hydrolysate. In this condition, the sum of xylobiose, xylotriose, and xylotetraose which has a low degree of polymerization (DP) of 2 to 4 was determined as 80.6% of the total XOS. The highest XOS production score established using parameters including the xylan extraction ratio, XOS purity, and low DP XOS ratio was 5.7 at CSF 1.0 condition. XOS production score evaluated using the CSF is expected to be used as a productivity indicator of XOS in the industry (R-squared value: 0.92). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Value Added Products from Agro-Food Residues)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 1003 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Artichoke Biorefinery: From Food to Advanced Technological Applications

by Matteo Francavilla, Mauro Marone, Paolo Marasco, Francesco Contillo and Massimo Monteleone

Foods 2021, 10(1), 112; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10010112 - 7 Jan 2021

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 3136

Abstract

A sequential extraction process has been designed for valorizing globe artichoke plant residues and waste (heads, leaves, stalks, and roots left in the field) by means of green extraction techniques according to a biorefinery approach. We investigated two cascading extractions based on microwave-assisted extractions (MAE) and green solvents (water and ethanol) that have been optimized for varying temperature, solvent and extraction time. In the first step, phenols were extracted with yields that ranged between 6.94 mg g⁻¹ dw (in leaves) and 3.28 mg g⁻¹ dw (in roots), and a phenols productivity of 175.74 kg Ha⁻¹. In the second step, inulin was extracted with impressive yields (42% dw), higher than other conventional inulin sources, corresponding to an inulin productivity of 4883.58 kg Ha⁻¹. The remaining residues were found to be valuable feedstocks both for bioenergy production and green manure (back to the field), closing the loop according to the Circular Economy paradigm. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Value Added Products from Agro-Food Residues)

► Show Figures

Graphical abstract

14 pages, 1607 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Conversion of Exhausted Sugar Beet Pulp into Fermentable Sugars from a Biorefinery Approach

by Cristina Marzo, Ana Belén Díaz, Ildefonso Caro and Ana Blandino

Foods 2020, 9(10), 1351; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9101351 - 24 Sep 2020

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 2686

Abstract

In this study, the production of a hydrolysate rich in fermentable sugars, which could be used as a generic microbial culture medium, was carried out by using exhausted sugar beet pulp pellets (ESBPPs) as raw material. For this purpose, the hydrolysis was performed through the direct addition of the fermented ESBPPs obtained by fungal solid-state fermentation (SSF) as an enzyme source. By directly using this fermented solid, the stages for enzyme extraction and purification were avoided. The effects of temperature, fermented to fresh solid ratio, supplementation of fermented ESBPP with commercial cellulase, and the use of high-solid fed-batch enzymatic hydrolysis were studied to obtain the maximum reducing sugar (RS) concentration and productivity. The highest RS concentration and productivity, 127.3 g·L⁻¹ and 24.3 g·L⁻¹·h⁻¹ respectively, were obtained at 50 °C and with an initial supplementation of 2.17 U of Celluclast^® per gram of dried solid in fed-batch mode. This process was carried out with a liquid to solid ratio of 4.3 mL·g⁻¹ solid, by adding 15 g of fermented solid and 13.75 g of fresh solid at the beginning of the hydrolysis, and then the same amount of fresh solid 3 times every 2.5 h. By this procedure, ESBPP can be used to produce a generic microbial feedstock, which contains a high concentration of monosaccharides. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Value Added Products from Agro-Food Residues)

► Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Review

Jump to: Editorial, Research

19 pages, 365 KiB

Open AccessReview

Dietary Fiber: Fractionation, Characterization and Potential Sources from Defatted Oilseeds

by Gita Addelia Nevara, Sharifah Kharidah Syed Muhammad, Norhasnida Zawawi, Nor Afizah Mustapha and Roselina Karim

Foods 2021, 10(4), 754; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10040754 - 2 Apr 2021

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 3376

Abstract

Dietary fiber (DF) has wide applications, especially in the food and pharmaceutical industries due to its health-promoting effects and potential techno-functional properties in developing functional food products. There is a growing interest in studies related to DF; nevertheless, there is less focus on the fractionation and characterization of DF. The characteristics of DF fractions explain their functionality in food products and provide clues to their physiological effects in food and pharmaceutical industrial applications. The review focuses on a brief introduction to DF and methods for its fractionation. It discusses the characterization of DF in terms of structural, physicochemical and rheological properties. The potential sources of DF from selected defatted oilseeds for future studies are highlighted. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Value Added Products from Agro-Food Residues)

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Value Added Products from Agro-Food Residues

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Special Issue Information

Keywords

Published Papers (11 papers)

Editorial

Research

Review

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI