Olive Mill Wastewater Valorization in Multifunctional Biopolymer Composites for Antibacterial Packaging Application

Abstract

Olive mill wastewater (OMW) is the aqueous waste derived from the production of virgin olive oil. OMW typically contains a wide range of phenol-type molecules, which are natural antioxidants and/or antibacterials. In order to exploit the bioactive molecules and simultaneously decrease the environmental impact of such a food waste stream, OMW has been intercalated into the host structure of ZnAl layered double hydroxide (LDH) and employed as an integrative filler for the preparation of poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) composites by in situ polymerization. From the view point of the polymer continuous phase as well as from the side of the hybrid filler, an investigation was performed in terms of molecular and morphological characteristics by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and X-ray diffraction (XRD); also, the thermal and mechanical properties were evaluated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and dynamic thermomechanical analysis (DMTA). Antibacterial properties have been assessed against a Gram-positive and a Gram-negative bacterium, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, respectively, as representatives of potential agents of foodborne illnesses.

Rosmarinic Acid and Ulvan from Terrestrial and Marine Sources in Anti-Microbial Bionanosystems and Biomaterials

“…Additionally, these functional fillers have successfully dispersed in various polymer matrices, demonstrating that the functional host-guest systems slowly release their contents to maintain antimicrobial agent concentrations at desired levels over a long period of time. Interestingly, polyphenol extracted by olive mill wastewater, which are natural antioxidants and in some cases also antimicrobials, have been confined into the host structure of a ZnAl-LDH and employed as an integrative filler for the preparation of poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) composites by in situ polymerization [154]. The antibacterial properties were assessed against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli as representatives of potential agents of foodborne illnesses.…”

Preparations and Applications of Bio - Based Additives for Building Chemicals Production

“…However, the recovery of target components from waste implies the use of downstream and purification processes which are time consuming and costly as well as not environmentally friendly due to the use of huge amounts of water. An alternative approach consists of exploiting agro -waste without any pretreatment, with the aim of preparing multifunctional materials, the development of which is indeed of great interest now for the industry, which is always looking for high -performance products obtainable through simple and low -cost [5].…”

Polymeric Systems as Antimicrobial or Antifouling Agents

“…Among the antimicrobial systems, readers can find antimicrobial peptides [23,24,25,26], cationic polymers [27,28,29,30,31], and inorganic/polymer composites [32,33,34].…”

“…Always in the framework of antimicrobial systems, three types of antibacterial inorganic/polymer composites were reported in this special issue [32,33,34]. Antibacterial cuprous oxide nanoparticles (Cu 2 ONPs) were loaded into linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) by Gurianov et al [32] to develop materials for tap water and wastewater disinfection.…”

“…Inorganic silica materials functionalized with various types of organic groups (3-aminopropyl, 3-mercaptopropyl, or 3-glycidyloxypropyl groups) were used as bone-targeted delivery systems for metronidazole [33]. Antibacterial and antioxidant phenol molecules, extracted from olive mill wastewater, were intercalated into the host structure of ZnAl layered double hydroxide and employed for the preparation of poly(butylene succinate) composites by Sisti et al [34]. These composites showed interesting properties for application in food packaging.…”