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Emerging Technology Approaches for Food Waste Recycling

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Food".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 671

Special Issue Editors


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Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Food Science, Szent István University, Ménesi st 44, HU-1118 Budapest, Hungary
Interests: sustainability; nano filtration; reverse osmosis; extraction; optimization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Food Engineering, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Ménesi út 44, 1118 Budapest, Hungary
Interests: sustainability; food waste recycling; betalains; beetroot; extractions via emerging technology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Food waste has emerged as one of the most pressing challenges facing global food systems, with significant environmental, economic, and social implications. Sustainable food waste management and utilization offer critical pathways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, conserve natural resources, and support circular economy models.

This Special Issue aims to present recent advances in the prevention, valorization, and sustainable management of food waste across the entire food supply chain, from production and processing to distribution and consumption. Emphasis is placed on innovative technologies, interdisciplinary approaches, and practical solutions that enable the transformation of food waste into value-added products such as biofuels, biochemicals, functional ingredients, animal feed, and soil amendments.

The issue also welcomes studies on policy frameworks, life cycle assessment, techno-economic analysis, and social dimensions that influence the effectiveness and scalability of food waste management strategies. By bringing together cutting-edge research, case studies, and review articles, this Special Issue seeks to bridge the gap between scientific innovation and real-world application, contributing to more resilient, resource-efficient, and sustainable food systems worldwide.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Szilvia Bánvölgyi
Dr. Mohmoh Zin
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. Sustainability 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 2400 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

  • circular economy
  • bio-based products
  • waste-to-value technologies
  • food waste recycling
  • food by-product utilization
  • environmental sustainability

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 12563 KB  
Article
A Comprehensive Experimental Investigation on Sustainable Nutrient Recovery from Food Waste via Hydrothermal Carbonization with the Addition of Deep Eutectic Solvents
by Shunfeng Jiang, Jiachen Qian, Ye Tang, Baoqiang Lv and Xiangyong Zheng
Sustainability 2026, 18(10), 4853; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18104853 - 13 May 2026
Viewed by 482
Abstract
Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) has emerged as a promising technique for food waste treatment. However, food waste is composed of complex components, including refractory proteins and polysaccharides, which lead to low efficiency and high costs during the HTC process. Enhancing the decomposition of food [...] Read more.
Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) has emerged as a promising technique for food waste treatment. However, food waste is composed of complex components, including refractory proteins and polysaccharides, which lead to low efficiency and high costs during the HTC process. Enhancing the decomposition of food waste while enabling efficient nutrient recovery remains a significant challenge for the widespread application of HTC in food waste management. This study introduces deep eutectic solvents (DESs) to enhance treatment efficiency during the HTC of food waste. A comprehensive characterization of the resulting hydrochar and aqueous phase was conducted, and the effect of DES addition on the migration and speciation of phosphorus and nitrogen species during HTC was investigated. The results indicated that the addition of DESs promoted the decomposition of food waste, reducing the hydrochar yield from 22.6% to 20.2% and decreasing the volatile matter content in the hydrochar from 86.63% to 71.60% at 200 °C. Additionally, DESs significantly lowered the nitrogen content in the hydrochar from 5.99% to 3.77%. By disrupting the hydrogen-bonding networks in proteins and polysaccharides, DESs facilitated the dissolution of organic matter into the aqueous phase. Furthermore, with DES addition, 5.06 mg of phosphorus species was enriched in the hydrochar, compared to only 1.78 mg in the control group without DESs. This study provides a sustainable strategy for the efficient treatment of food waste while simultaneously enabling the effective recovery of valuable nutrients. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Technology Approaches for Food Waste Recycling)
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