Bioproducts, Biomaterial and Clean Technologies of Waste

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (22 April 2022) | Viewed by 7453

Special Issue Editors

Agroforestry Research Group, University of Vigo, 36005 Pontevedra, Spain
Interests: freshwater ecosystems; water quality; management of aquatic ecosystems; eutrophication; microalgae; bioproducts; biomass; bioenergy
Chemical Engineering Department, University of Vigo, 36005 Pontevedra, Spain
Interests: chemical engineering; extraction methods; bioproducts; biomaterials; biodiesel
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The management and reduction of waste, as well as its reuse as a source of other materials, is a strategy that can contribute to the protection of the environment. In this sense, all those techniques, products and materials that can reduce the use of natural resources will benefit environmental conservation through bio-based raw materials and circular production processes that reduce and create new uses for waste. The main objective of this Special Issue is to promote sustainable use of renewable bio-based resources to produce energy and bioproducts, and to reduce waste, while protecting biodiversity and the environment. More specifically, we encourage articles in the areas of bioproducts, biomaterials, clean technologies and renewable energy sources from any residue (forestry, agricultural, domestic, etc.) including processes, the characterization of the resulting products, and so on. In addition, the reduction of waste through obtaining bioenergy will also be a key strategy in this Special Issue.

Dr. Xana Álvarez Bermúdez
Prof. Dr. María Ángeles Cancela Carral
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • bioenergy
  • clean technology
  • bioproduct
  • waste
  • biomaterial
  • environmental technology
  • environmental conservation

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

7 pages, 991 KiB  
Article
Value-Added Products by Solvent Extraction and Steam Distillation from Elderberry (Sambucus nigra L.)
by Angel Sanchez, Clara Míguez, Antía Iglesias and Lucia Saborido
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(6), 2996; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12062996 - 15 Mar 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1669
Abstract
Medicinal plants are very important in sustainable economic development, in the pharmaceutical industry and in promoting the conservation of biodiversity. The main objective of this work was to obtain extracts and hydrolytes of flowers, leaves and bark of Sambucus nigra, and analyse [...] Read more.
Medicinal plants are very important in sustainable economic development, in the pharmaceutical industry and in promoting the conservation of biodiversity. The main objective of this work was to obtain extracts and hydrolytes of flowers, leaves and bark of Sambucus nigra, and analyse their possible uses. Two sampling areas in a field were chosen, and collection was carried out at different times, according to the selected parts of the plant. Two techniques were chosen, steam distillation and ethanol and glycerol extraction. The hydrolytes of the different parts of Sambucus nigra can be used in therapeutic applications due to their pH. Distillations of the stems and leaves gave no indication of essential oil, at least with the quantities used. Therefore, the highest percentage of essential oil was found in the flowers. Ethanol was a better extraction solvent than glycerine, with yields of 99% and 90%, respectively. Flower extracts prepared with ethanol showed a total phenolic content of 59.3 ± 2 mg gallic acid equivalent/g and a total flavonoid content of 16.2 ± 0.2 mg quercetin equivalent/g. This research could contribute to the valorisation of this species giving a boost to its reuse from a circular economy perspective. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioproducts, Biomaterial and Clean Technologies of Waste)
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12 pages, 1574 KiB  
Article
Anthocyanins, Phenolic Compounds, and Antioxidants from Extractions of Six Eucalyptus Species
by Xana Álvarez, Ángeles Cancela, Yolanda Merchán and Ángel Sánchez
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(21), 9818; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11219818 - 20 Oct 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1865
Abstract
The leaves of Eucalyptus have multiple biological activities such as antimicrobial, antiseptic, antioxidant, and antifungal. A Soxhlet extraction, SLE, and HD were used to obtain extracts from the leaves of six Eucalyptus species, E. globulus, E. oblicua, E. pavaflora, E. [...] Read more.
The leaves of Eucalyptus have multiple biological activities such as antimicrobial, antiseptic, antioxidant, and antifungal. A Soxhlet extraction, SLE, and HD were used to obtain extracts from the leaves of six Eucalyptus species, E. globulus, E. oblicua, E. pavaflora, E. camaldulensis, E. viminalis, and E. nitens, and to study their antioxidant capacity. Solvents such as acetone, dichloromethane, ethanol, hexane, methanol, and water were used to study how polarity influences extraction yields. The SLE method achieved higher or similar yields, depending on the species and its composition, than the Soxlet method at a temperature of 50 °C. The highest yields were obtained with E. viminalis with methanol (42.5 wt.%), the highest phenolic content was obtained with E. nitens with methanol (124.17 mg GAE/g of extract), and the highest anthocyanin levels obtained were with E. nitens with hexane (5.05 mg CC/g of extract). E. nitens obtained almost five times more phenolic content than E. globulus; therefore, it is the most promising species. The high content of the compounds analysed confirm the good potential of these species to obtain value-added compounds. Our results demonstrate that the differences in the extract contents depend on the polarity of the solvents used. In addition, the use of these species will reduce the residue in the forest, which is greatly beneficial. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioproducts, Biomaterial and Clean Technologies of Waste)
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15 pages, 2167 KiB  
Article
Single-Stage Fractionation of Vine Shoots Using Microwave Heating
by Sandra Rivas and Juan Carlos Parajó
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(17), 7954; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11177954 - 28 Aug 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1345
Abstract
Vine shoots are agricultural residues that can be used as a raw material in agro-biorefineries, in which their main constituents can be individually converted into valuable bioproducts. The treatment of vine shoots in uncatalyzed media containing water and 1-butanol enabled the single-stage separation [...] Read more.
Vine shoots are agricultural residues that can be used as a raw material in agro-biorefineries, in which their main constituents can be individually converted into valuable bioproducts. The treatment of vine shoots in uncatalyzed media containing water and 1-butanol enabled the single-stage separation of the major vine shoots constituents in different phases: the aqueous phase from treatments contained hemicellulose-derived products (mainly in the form of oligosaccharides), the organic phase accumulated the dissolved lignin, and the cellulosic fraction was recovered in solid phase. The aqueous phase from treatments was refined using membranes and processed with enzymes to obtain a refined product (RP) containing 92.2 g of oligosaccharides/100 g of non-volatile compounds. The oligosaccharides were mainly composed of anhydroxylose units substituted by acetyl and uronic groups. Enzymatic hydrolysis of RP with endo-xylanases reduced the average degree of polymerization to 2–3, which are preferred for application as healthy food ingredients. The solid phase from treatments was used as a substrate for enzymatic hydrolysis, enabling the production of solutions containing 34.9 g glucose /L and 4.2 g xylose /L. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioproducts, Biomaterial and Clean Technologies of Waste)
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14 pages, 2540 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Morphological Changes in Grapes Coated with a Biosurfactant Extract Obtained from Corn Steep Liquor
by Andrea Martínez-Arcos, Alejandro López-Prieto, Lorena Rodríguez-López, Benita Pérez-Cid, Xanel Vecino, Ana Belén Moldes and José Manuel Cruz
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(13), 5904; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11135904 - 25 Jun 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1585
Abstract
In this work, grapes were coated with a multifunctional biosurfactant extract obtained from corn steep liquor after liquid–liquid extraction with ethyl acetate. This biosurfactant extract has been demonstrated to not only possess a surfactant capacity but also antimicrobial activity. Hence, it could be [...] Read more.
In this work, grapes were coated with a multifunctional biosurfactant extract obtained from corn steep liquor after liquid–liquid extraction with ethyl acetate. This biosurfactant extract has been demonstrated to not only possess a surfactant capacity but also antimicrobial activity. Hence, it could be an excellent preservative for fruits, as it is more biodegradable and more biocompatible than chemically synthetized preservatives. However, before applying this biosurfactant as a preservative on fruits, it is necessary to study the changes in the surface properties of fruits produced by the addition of this bioactive compound. Therefore, in this work, grapes coated with an aqueous solution containing 1 g/L of the biosurfactant extract were subjected to surface analysis using non-invasive technologies, including profilometry. 2D digital photographs of the surface and parametric roughness of grapes were obtained. They revealed that the biosurfactant extract decreased the roughness of the grape surface compared with non-coated grapes and reduced the changes in the shape of the grapes over time. Moreover, it was observed that the biosurfactant extract increased the hydrophobicity of the grape surface observing higher contact angle compared with non-coated grapes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioproducts, Biomaterial and Clean Technologies of Waste)
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