Agri-Food Wastes and Biomass Valorization—2nd Edition

A special issue of Waste (ISSN 2813-0391).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2025 | Viewed by 1787

Special Issue Editors


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Department of Food Science & Nutrition, School of Agricultural Sciences, University of Thessaly, N. Temponera Street, 43100 Karditsa, Greece
Interests: natural antioxidants; polyphenol extraction; food and beverage polyphenols; valorization of beverage industry waste; green extraction
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Agricultural practices, industrial manufacturing, and household consumption are just a few of the activities that contribute to the production of food waste biomass. Modern environmental theories, like that of the circular economy, are thought to provide the impulse behind the implementation of zero-waste policies. A huge percentage of this residual biomass has significant potential to be used as a raw material to produce novel products and specialty feedstock through biorefining procedures, even though the high volume of waste originating from the food industry raises serious concerns regarding both economic and environmental aspects.

Given that many plant parts that are rejected during fruit and vegetable processing (e.g., leaves, branches, peels, roots, stems, and seeds) carry a sizable load of phytochemicals, including polyphenols, the recovery of valuable secondary metabolites from waste plant tissues is an appealing prospect in this regard. This specific group of substances includes a wide range of chemical compositions with diverse biological characteristics and functions, including antioxidant and antibacterial activities, as well as chemoprotective effects against cancer and other degenerative diseases.

As a result, the purpose of this Special Issue of Waste is to provide a collection of scientific papers focusing on agri-food waste and biomass valorization, natural product extraction applications, and the health potential of bioactive compounds.

Dr. Dimitris P. Makris
Dr. Vassilis Athanasiadis
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • agri-food wastes
  • antioxidants
  • bioactive compounds
  • biomass
  • biorefinery
  • by-products
  • green extraction
  • health potentials
  • polyphenols
  • valorization

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 2004 KiB  
Article
Investigation and Enhancement of the Antioxidant Compound Recovery of Pyrus communis Peel
by Tzeni Bentoulla, Konstantina Kotsou, Dimitrios Kalompatsios, Aggeliki Alibade, Vassilis Athanasiadis, Eleni Bozinou and Stavros I. Lalas
Waste 2024, 2(3), 382-396; https://doi.org/10.3390/waste2030021 - 20 Sep 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1252
Abstract
Pyrus communis (P. communis) is the most cultivated and consumed species of pear within the European continent. This fruit has been a staple in Greece since ancient times, hence the name “Gift of the Gods”. Given the extensive utilization of this [...] Read more.
Pyrus communis (P. communis) is the most cultivated and consumed species of pear within the European continent. This fruit has been a staple in Greece since ancient times, hence the name “Gift of the Gods”. Given the extensive utilization of this fruit in the industrial sector and the focus on the exploitation of by-products to create new food and beverage products, the present research aimed to enhance the antioxidant activity of the P. communis peel through the implementation of a multifactor extraction system. Increased total polyphenols and ascorbic acid concentration, and enhanced antioxidant activity through radical scavenging and Fe3⁺ to Fe2⁺ reduction, all assist in boosting the health benefits of the extracts. The results indicated that the best conditions for compound yields were a 75% v/v hydroethanolic concentration, an extraction temperature of 80 °C, and 30 min of extraction time. Under the optimal conditions, the total polyphenol content was up to 4.98 mg of gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g dried weight (dw). The radical scavenging activity by the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method was expressed as 18.36 μmol ascorbic acid equivalents (AAE)/g dw, while by the ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) method, it was 35.09 μmol AAE/g dw. Finally, the amount of ascorbic acid was measured at 20.16 mg/100 g dw. In this regard, this study has been conducted to assess and enhance the level of these bioactive compounds in the extract of the P. communis peel, leading to an extract with several applications in different food and beverage industries. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agri-Food Wastes and Biomass Valorization—2nd Edition)
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