Green Extraction and Bioprocessing of Agri-Food Resources: Sustainable Valorization for Food and Nutraceutical Applications

Dear Colleagues,

The transition toward sustainable and circular food systems requires the development of efficient processes for the recovery, transformation, and utilization of valuable compounds from agricultural materials, underutilized crops, and agri-food by-products. These resources contain proteins, lipids, dietary fibers, polyphenols, pigments, peptides, and other compounds with potential applications in food, functional ingredients, and nutraceutical products. However, their successful valorization requires process strategies that improve extraction efficiency, product quality, safety, environmental performance, and economic feasibility.

Recent developments in green extraction and bioprocessing provide new opportunities for designing more sustainable and intensified processing systems. Enzyme-assisted extraction, ultrasound, microwave, pulsed electric fields, pressurized fluids, alternative solvents, fermentation, germination, enzymatic hydrolysis, membrane separation, encapsulation, and other emerging technologies can improve the recovery and functionality of valuable compounds. Nevertheless, further research is required to establish robust relationships between process conditions, mass transfer, reaction kinetics, energy and solvent consumption, product functionality, bioaccessibility, and scalability.

This Special Issue aims to present and disseminate recent advances in the design, development, optimization, intensification, modeling, control, and scale-up of green extraction and bioprocessing technologies for the sustainable valorization of agri-food resources. We invite original research articles, reviews, communications, and methodological contributions that address experimental, theoretical, computational, and process-engineering aspects of food and nutraceutical applications.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Green extraction and separation of proteins, oils, peptides, polyphenols, pigments, and dietary fibers;
• Enzyme-assisted, ultrasound-assisted, microwave-assisted, pulsed-electric-field, and pressurized extraction;
• Fermentation, germination, enzymatic hydrolysis, debittering, and other bioprocessing strategies;
• Process modeling, optimization, intensification, monitoring, and control;
• Valorization of underutilized crops, plant resources, and agri-food by-products;
• Development of functional foods, nutraceutical ingredients, and value-added products;
• Bioaccessibility, in vitro digestion, biological activity, and product stability;
• Food safety, antinutritional factors, toxic compounds, and quality assessment;
• Life-cycle assessment, techno-economic analysis, circular bioeconomy, and process scale-up.

Dr. Jorge Martínez-Herrera
Dr. Ofelia Andrea Valdés-Rodríguez
Dr. Guadalupe Luna-Solano
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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