Utilization of food waste streams for the production of biopolymers

Abstract

Uncontrolled decomposition of agro-industrial waste leads to extensive contamination of water, land, and air. There is a tremendous amount of waste from various sources which causes serious environmental problems. The concern in the disposal problems has stimulated research interest in the valorization of waste streams. Valorization of the wastes not only reduces the volume of waste but also reduces the contamination to the environment. Waste from food industries has great potential as primary or secondary feedstocks for biopolymer production by extraction or fermentation with pre-treatment or without pre-treatment by solid-state fermentation to obtain fermentable sugars. Various types of waste can be used as substrates for the production of biomaterials but recently more focus has been observed on the agro-industrial wastes which have a high rate of production worldwide. This review collates in detail the different food wastes used for biopolymer, technologies for the production and characterization of the biopolymers, and their economic/technical viability.

Filmes biodegradáveis e agentes de reforço vegetais: Um enfoque em estudos brasileiros sob a ótica da economia circular

“…Os principais biopolímeros extraídos de vegetais e seus resíduos para produção de bioplásticos e de filmes biodegradáveis, além de proteínas, são amido, compostos lignocelulósicos e pectina (Figura 2) (Ranganathan et al, 2020;Sharmila, 2020). O amido é um polissacarídeo formado basicamente por moléculas de amilose (cadeias longas e lineares) e amilopectina (curtas e ramificadas), que consistem em cadeias de D-glicose unidas por ligações glicosídicas α (1-4) nas cadeias principais e ligações glicosídicas α (1-6) nos pontos de ramificação.…”

“…Alguns estudos produzidos em Universidades e outras instituições de pesquisa brasileiras publicados nos últimos anos sobre valorização de vegetais e seus resíduos agroindustriais para o desenvolvimento de filmes com diferentes funcionalidades e aplicações. Atualmente, há grande interesse na valorização e aproveitamento de resíduos agroindustriais para a formulação de filmes, devido à relativa abundância, baixo custo, não toxicidade, biodegradabilidade e biocompatibilidade (Omran et al, 2021;Chang et al, 2021;Ranganathan et al, 2020). No entanto, ainda é um desafio produzir filmes à base de resíduos vegetais com propriedades mecânicas e de barreira mais competitivas que os plásticos convencionais.…”

Study of the Physical and Mechanical Properties of Thermoplastic Starch/Poly(Lactic Acid) Blends Modified with Acid Agents

“…The efficiency of starch thermoplasticization stems from the capacity of hydrogen bonding and the mechanism of cleavage of the starch chain. In this sense, the crystallinity loss accounts for starch granule destructuring, thereby compromising material stability and physico-mechanical properties [6,7]. Compared to conventional polymers, neat TPS has shown disadvantages, especially when it comes to its high hydrophilicity and permeability to gases and even microorganisms.…”

What Is New in the Field of Industrial Wastes Conversion into Polyhydroxyalkanoates by Bacteria?

“…The production of PHAs from commercial manufacturers reached 2.05 million tons in 2017. It is believed that the global market of PHAs will grow up to 98 million tons by 2024 [ 6 ]. Many companies have been set up to commercialize PHAs as environmentally friendly bioplastics using renewable resources as primary or secondary feedstocks ( Table 1 ).…”