Purpose: Processing and selection of fruits and vegetables generate high amounts of wastes that represent an economical and environmental issue for the agroindustry sector. Nevertheless, according to so called “biorefinery” approach, this waste biomass can be exploited for the recovery of value added molecules. In this paper the residues of industrial processing of fennels, carrots, lemons and tomatoes were used as sources of polyphenols. Methods: In order to optimize the recovery of polyphenols, different extraction techniques (maceration, ultrasound and microwave assisted extraction) were used in combination with different extraction media (water, ethanol, methanol and their mixtures). The polyphenols’ fractions were tested for their chemical and biological properties. Results: All the obtained phenol fractions showed high antioxidant power and scavenging ability towards stable radical species and hydrogen peroxide. Moreover, the isolated polyphenol mixtures (containing remarkable compounds like quercetin, kaempferol, naringin, hesperetin) also displayed potential activities as anti-cancer, anti-microbial and acetylcholinesterase inhibiting agents. Conclusions: Overall the obtained results showed that the residual matter produced by the industrial processing of fruits and vegetables contain high amounts of polyphenols. These polyphenolic fractions still retain their biological and antioxidant properties and therefore could be further exploited for other industrial applications

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The present review will explore the most relevant findings on marine microbial biofilm, with\ud particular attention towards its polysaccharide fraction, namely exopolysaccharide (EPS). EPSs of\ud microbial origin are ubiquitous in nature, possess unique properties and can be isolated from the\ud bacteria living in a variety of habitats, including fresh water or marine environments, extreme\ud environments or different soil ecosystems. These biopolymers have many application in the field\ud of biotechnology. Several studies showed that the biofilm formation is closely related to quorum\ud sensing (QS) systems, which is a mechanism relying on the production of small molecules defined as\ud “autoinducers” that bacteria release in the surrounding environment where they accumulate. In this\ud review, the involvement of microbial chemical communication, by QS mechanism, in the formation\ud of marine biofilm will also be discussed

Polysaccharides are the main chemical components of several kinds of agro-wastes including food processing residues and agricultural wastes. These types of biomass are produced in huge amounts every year and therefore represent a global environmental issue. The exploitation of agro-wastes as rich sources of valuable polysaccharides, according to the biorefinery approach, could afford both a strategy for waste minimizing and a more sustainable production of energy and chemicals. As a matter of fact, indeed polysaccharides are traditionally used in a wide range of production chains, for example, in food, pharmaceutical, material, or packaging industries.\ud In this chapter, besides a brief overview of more abundant agro-wastes produced in the world and of their annual production, some remarkable examples of already implemented or possible biotechnological uses of waste polysaccharides are presented