Dear Colleagues,

Today efforts are underway to mitigate the agri-food waste problem by using appropriate technologies that allow the efficient recycling of these wastes, thus creating additional value and simultaneously protecting the environment. The appropriate treatment of these wastes is in accordance with the green chemistry and circular economy principles, which both lead to sustainable development. The main purpose of this Special Issue is to highlight and focus on the importance of membrane processes in the valorisation of agri-food wastes. These waste materials can be solids or liquids that are created from the pruning of plants in fields/glass houses, the processing of raw materials or because these plant materials do not comply with industrial quality assurance standards. The latter problem is more intense in the low-income countries. Membrane technologies have a number of advantages, such as their relatively low installation cost compared to other technologies, they are quite compact with lower space requirements, have low energy expenditure, are quite automated and electrifiable and can be easily adopted even in such low-income countries. As they are electrifiable, they can be used in combination with alternative energy resources, providing a lower carbon footprint.

This Special Issue will not only address the recovery of compounds from such waste materials, but will also cover the new membrane materials that can facilitate the isolation of such compounds, how these technologies can be integrated with other pre- and post-treatment steps and the use of natural polymers for membrane fabrication. It will provide evidence of energy and resources required for the recycling of the solvents used for the initial extraction of these compounds. These are the main key areas that will be able to lead us to a more sustainable future, and you are very welcome to participate in this Special Issue.

Dr. Emmanouil Papaioannou
Dr. Lidietta Giorno
Guest Editors

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• membrane processes
• agri-food waste valorisation
• low-energy technologies
• value-added products from wastes
• bio-based economy