Bioactives and Sustainable Extraction Technologies: From Agri-Food Waste to High Added-Value Products
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Agriculture".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 February 2027 | Viewed by 185
Special Issue Editor
Interests: metabolomics; phytochemicals; analytical strategies; agri-food by-products; secondary metabolites; quality assessment; nutraceutical properties; sustainability; tree-crops
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Several agri-food by-products and waste are generated in the agricultural and food sectors during different steps and processes in the whole supply chain, representing both a negative environmental issue and an underexploited and underutilized resource. Most of these natural materials are characterized by different health-promoting and bioactive substances and compounds (e.g., functional lipids and proteins, fibers, polyphenols, carotenoids, etc.) with potential applications in different industrial products such as pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, and foods. According to the principles of a circular economy, the sustainable characterization and valorization of agri-food by-products and waste has become a priority. The literature recently highlights the increasing role of green technologies (e.g., ultrasound- and microwave-assisted processes, enzymatic treatments, supercritical fluid extraction, and green and food-grade solvents) in driving the efficient and sustainable recovery of high-value molecules, minimizing their environmental impact, and reducing organic solvent consumption, as well as energy and material use.
This Special Issue aims to present sustainability-oriented approaches and innovative strategies for the characterization, valorization, and re-use of agri-food by-products and waste, with a particular focus on the main green technologies used for extracting nutritional substances and bioactive molecules. This topic is fully aligned with the scope of Sustainability and aims to highlight cleaner production methods, circular economy models, natural resource efficiency, and the eco-environmental dimension of the sustainable agri-food sector.
Suggested Themes:
- Green technologies for the extraction of bioactives;
- Use of bio-based, food-grade, and sustainable solvents;
- Characterization of recovered bioactive molecules;
- Applications in the food and herbal sectors;
- Technical and economic analysis;
- Life cycle assessment.
We welcome original research articles and reviews in this Special Issue. Research areas include (but are not limited to) the following: sustainable extraction technologies, green and food-grade solvents, dietary antioxidants, metabolomics, life cycle assessments, biopolymers, and nutraceuticals.
I look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Dario Donno
Guest Editor
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
- green technologies
- sustainable solvents
- bioactive compounds
- LCA
- biomaterials
- phytochemicals
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