Development of food packaging bioactive aerogels through the valorization of Gelidium sesquipedale seaweed

Abstract

This study presents the valorization of the Gelidium sesquipedale seaweed for the development of bioactive aerogels with interest in food packaging applications. The raw seaweed was used to extract cellulose, highly crystalline (Xc∼70%) and high aspect ratio (∼40) nanocellulose and an agarbased extract, rich in polyphenols and with antioxidant capacity. Subsequently, pure PVA and hybrid aerogels containing cellulose and nanocellulose were produced by a physical cross-linking method. The presence of hydroxyl groups provided by the high aspect ratio of nanocellulose promoted the interactions with water and facilitated the accessibility of moisture towards the interior of the aerogels, hence generating high water sorption capacity materials. The agar-based extract was then incorporated into selected formulations and the release in hydrophobic and hydrophilic food simulant media was investigated. Pure PVA aerogels dissolved in aqueous media, resulting in an immediate release of the bioactive. Interestingly, the hybrid aerogels containing cellulose and nanocellulose preserved their integrity and provided a more gradual release. Although the hybrid aerogels presented similar release profiles during the first 48 h, the presence of nanocellulose led to greater release values after more prolonged times. This shows the promising properties of hybrid PVA/cellulose/nanocellulose aerogels as matrices for the controlled release of bioactive compounds in food systems, which could be of interest for the development of bioactive packaging structures.

In-Depth Characterization of Bioactive Extracts from Posidonia oceanica Waste Biomass

“…Although the E2 H 2 O and E3 H 2 O were within the extracts having the highest polyphenol contents, that was not the case for E2 US. It seems that, as previously noted for other water-based extracts from aquatic biomass [45], apart from polyphenols some other compounds such as proteins and polysaccharides may also contribute to the antioxidant potential of the extracts. All the extracts presented values higher than 200 µmol TE/g extract, which are comparatively greater than the extracts from other plants such as a range of medicinal Indian plants [15] (which presented an average value of 270 μmol TE/g extract) and fifteen different species of medicinal Mediterranean plants (with their water and methanolic extracts ranging from ~100 to ~1000 μmol TE/g extract) [46].…”

Prospect of Polysaccharide-Based Materials as Advanced Food Packaging

“…Super water adsorbent aerogels that can be potentially used for food packaging application were obtained by regenerated cellulose [71] and cellulose nanocrystals [72]. On the other side, Oliveria et al used nanocellulose obtained from Gelidium sesquipedale seaweed to reinforce PVA food packaging aerogels [73].…”

“…Major drawback is their highly hydrophilic nature that limits their application in native form, due to their low moisture resistance. However, numerous free hydroxyl groups distributed along the backbone and side chains of hemicellulose, enable its' chemical functionalization and formation of derivatives with desirable solubility, crystallinity, film-forming ability, and hydrophobicity [73,77]. Esterification with acid chlorides or anhydrides, etherification, including carboxymethylation and alkylation, acetylation, as well as ring-opening graft polymerization with hydrophobic polymers have been successfully used for efficient tailoring of hemicellulose molecules with the resulting products having improved properties compared to the native compound [28,78,79].…”

Nanomaterials in Advanced, High-Performance Aerogel Composites: A Review

“…After gelation is achieved, the gel is then dried either through freeze drying or supercritical drying [72]. Many studies have utilized this method to produce nanocellulose aerogels for applications such as food packaging, thermal insulation, catalyst systems, shape memory aerogels, drug release, tissue engineering, and supercapacitors [77,81,85,86,87,88,89].…”