Beyond cellulose extraction: Recovery of phytochemicals and contaminants to revalorize agricultural waste
Graphical abstract
Introduction
Along with the deforestation related with food production intensification, wood is still the main source of cellulose for different applications. The use of agroindustrial waste to recover cellulose has been demonstrated and, more importantly, the chemical properties of this material from non-wood sources are better for high value applications (Vallejo et al., 2021; Klaai et al., 2022). Agricultural residues are mainly composed of hemicellulose, cellulose, pectin, lignin and wax. Agricultural residues include sugar cane bagasse, rice straw, rice husks and wheat straw, among other parts that are not the harvested crop or fruit (Reshmy et al., 2022). These residues are being used as an alternative source of non-wood cellulose for diverse applications by traditional alkaline extraction. This process generates a black liquor rich in fermentable sugars, salts, and phytochemicals that may be recovered or reused for different purposes.
Emergent and green technologies for the recovery of polyphenols, carotenoids, polysaccharides and proteins from agricultural waste have been technologically demonstrated (Freitas et al., 2021). Circular bioprocesses scale-up and economic feasibility are urgently required for sustainable food production. However, it is also important to consider that for more than 30 years, the agricultural use of plastics has increased due to climate change and water stress and therefore, diverse pollutants in soils end up in food and agroindustrial residues. Therefore, circular bioprocesses are an alternative to stop the accumulation or reduce the concentration of these contaminants to prevent chronic diseases and promote sustainable food production.
Section snippets
Traditional methods for cellulose extraction
Different agroindustrial wastes are currently being used to recover cellulose in different ways and diverse applications (Table 1). Cellulose from fruit residues has been used to provide strength to paper and cardboard, cellulose from cereals as rice husks for the recovery of nanocrystals that are ultimately used in the production of hydrogels to transport medicines. In the case of straw and sugarcane, cellulose has been recovered for use in biofuels; similarly, an enzymatic hydrolysis of
Phenolic compounds found in agroindustrial residues
Agricultural activities generate tons of waste from different crops that contain diverse polyphenolic compounds (Table 3). Polyphenolic extracts yields vary from 2.5 % to 10.3 % (Vijayalaxmi et al., 2014) depending on the extraction or recovery method. Ferulic, gallic, caffeic and coumaric acids are the most abundant phenolic compounds in agroindustrial waste (Table 3). In wheat and rice, also ferulic, gallic and coumaric acids were the most numerous compounds (Jin et al., 2020). Cereals are an
Challenges for the separation of phthalate acid esters (PAEs) residuals from agroindustrial waste
During the recovery of by-products in lignocellulosic residues biorefineries, there are some challenges related to production costs, irregular biomass supply, land use, yield, and scaling up. But most importantly, current agricultural techniques, such as mulching, may represent a risk for the ecosystems (soil, water, plant matrix) and consumers (Chen et al., 2019). According to Li et al. (2021), the use of agricultural plastic films has increased the presence of microplastics and phthalate acid
Conclusions
Intensive agricultural practices generate high amounts of vegetal residues that are discarded with no further reuse. Cellulose is one of the major components of agroindustrial waste and in many countries it has been recovered for different commercial applications to substitute that extracted from wood. The most common method of cellulose extraction involves alkaline hydrolysis of vegetal tissue and the main byproducts are effluents typically known as black liquors. Agroindustrial waste also
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey and the Institute for Obesity Research for providing the necessary support and tools for the review.
References (81)
- et al.
Extraction and purification of ferulic acid from flax shives, wheat and corn bran by alkaline hydrolysis and pressurized solvents
Food Chem.
(2009) - et al.
Compost and vermicompost in cucumber rhizosphere promote plant growth and prevent the entry of anthropogenic organic pollutants
Sci. Hortic.
(2022) - et al.
Effect of biochars on the bioavailability of cadmium and di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate to Brassica chinensis L. in contaminated soils
Sci. Total Environ.
(2019) - et al.
Extraction of phenolic compounds from sulfur-free black liquor thanks to hydrothermal treatment before the production of syngas for biofuels
J. Supercrit. Fluids
(2022) - et al.
From waste to sustainable industry: how can agro-industrial wastes help in the development of new products?
Resour. Conserv. Recycl.
(2021) - et al.
Antioxidant potential and HPLC-DAD profile of phenolic compounds from leaves and culms of Merostachys pluriflora
S. Afr. J. Bot.
(2018) - et al.
Phthalates in the diet of Mexican children of school age.Risk analysis
Toxicol. Rep.
(2020) - et al.
Phenolic profile (HPLC-UV) of olive leaves according to extraction procedure and assessment of antibacterial activity
Biotechnol. Rep.
(2019) - et al.
Enhancement of alkaline-oxidative delignification of wheat straw by semi-batch operation in a stirred tank reactor
Bioresour. Technol.
(2020) - et al.
Synthetic microbial consortia bioprocessing integrated with pyrolysis for efficient conversion of cellulose to valuables
Bioresour. Technol. Rep.
(2023)
Thermal and structural analyses of extracted cellulose from olive husk
Mater. Today: Proc.
Pineapple peel extract incorporated poly(vinyl alcohol)-corn starch film for active food packaging: preparation, characterization and antioxidant activity
Int. J. Biol. Macromol.
Enhanced enzymatic hydrolysis of wheat straw via a combination of alkaline hydrogen peroxide and lithium chloride/N,N-dimethylacetamide pretreatment
Ind. Crop Prod.
Are microplastics correlated to phthalates in facility agriculture soil?
J. Hazard. Mater.
Diffuse phthalate acid esters losses induced from large amount of agricultural plastic film residues caused low risks for water quality in China during 1991–2017
J. Hazard. Mater.
Rice-associated with Bacillus sp. DRL1 enhanced remediation of DEHP-contaminated soil and reduced the risk of secondary pollution through promotion of plant growth, degradation of DEHP in soil and modulation of rhizosphere bacterial community
J. Hazard. Mater.
Soil contamination and sources of phthalates and its health risk in China: a review
Environ. Res.
Biobutanol production from cocoa pod husk through a sequential green method: depectination, delignification, enzymatic hydrolysis, and extractive fermentation
Bioresour. Technol. Rep.
Extraction of polyphenolic antioxidants from orange peel waste using deep eutectic solvents
Sep. Purif. Technol.
Development and validation of a HPLC-DAD method for simultaneous determination of main potential ABE fermentation inhibitors identified in agro-food waste hydrolysates
Microchem. J.
Lignocellulose in future biorefineries: strategies for cost-effective production of biomaterials and bioenergy
Bioresour. Technol.
Concentrations of organic contaminants in industrial and municipal bioresources recycled in agriculture in the UK
Sci. Total Environ.
Plastic film mulching increased the accumulation and human health risks of phthalate esters in wheat grains
Environ. Pollut.
Acid, alkali and peroxide pretreatments increase the cellulose accessibility and glucose yield of banana pseudostem
Ind. Crop. Prod.
Ferulic acid production from brewery spent grains, an agro-industrial waste
LWT-Food Sci. Technol.
Antioxidant compounds from bananas (Musa cavendish)
Food Chem.
Rapid determination of total phenolic content of whole wheat flour using near-infrared spectroscopy and chemometrics
Food Chem.
Phthalates and nonylphenols in profiles of differently dressed soils
Sci. Total Environ.
Effect of plastic film mulching and film residues on phthalate esters concentrations in soil and plants, and its risk assessment
Environ. Pollut.
Pollution characteristics and health risk assessment of phthalate esters in agricultural soil and vegetables in the Yangtze River Delta of China
Sci. Total Environ.
Profiling of phenolic compounds of fruit peels of different ecotype bananas derived from domestic and imported cultivars with different maturity
Horticulturae
The antibiotic activity and mechanisms of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) bagasse extract against food-borne pathogens
Food Chem.
Effect of drying temperature on Agave tequilana leaves: a pretreatment for releasing reducing sugars for biofuel production
J. Food Process Eng.
Biostimulation of Rhodovulum sp., for enhanced degradation of di-n-butyl phthalate under optimum conditions
Chemosphere
Hunting bioactive molecules from the agave genus: an update on extraction and biological potential
Molecules
Fabrication and evaluation of water hyacinth cellulose-composited hydrogel containing quercetin for topical antibacterial applications
Gels
Antioxidant capacity and phenolic profile of berry, seed, and skin of Ekşikara (Vitis vinifera) grape: influence of harvest year and altitude
Int. J. Food Prop.
Olive pomace-derived biomasses fractionation through a two-step extraction based on the use of ultrasounds: chemical characteristics
Foods
High-value-added compound recovery with high-temperature hydrothermal treatment and steam explosion, and subsequent biomethanization of residual strawberry extrudate
Foods
Polyphenol characterization and antioxidant activity of grape seeds and skins from Sicily: a preliminary study
Sustainability
Cited by (6)
Sustainable microwave-assisted eutectic solvent extraction of polyphenols from vine pruning residues
2024, Microchemical JournalFrom Waste Paper to Cellulose: Building Environmental Awareness by Chemical Technology from Pragmatistic Pedagogy
2024, Journal of Chemical EducationNanocellulose/Nanodiamond Hybrids: A Review
2023, Macromol