Superabsorbent food packaging bioactive cellulose-based aerogels from Arundo donax waste biomass

Abstract

A. donax waste biomass has been valorized for the extraction of cellulosic fractions with different purification degrees, as well as aqueous bioactive extracts, which were then combined to develop superabsorbent bioactive aerogels. All the developed aerogels presented excellent water and oil sorption capacities; however, the presence of hemicelluloses yielded more porous and hydrophilic aerogels, capable of absorbing more water. With regards to the aqueous extracts, the hot water treatment (HW) of A. donax stems promoted the extraction of polysaccharides and polyphenols, producing the extract (S-HW) with the highest antioxidant capacity. This extract was then incorporated into the aerogels produced from the less purified stem fractions (F2A and F3A), which were chosen due to their good water sorption capacity, higher antioxidant potential and lower production costs and environmental impact. The hybrid aerogels showed a great potential to be used as bioactive pads for food packaging. In particular, the F2A+S-HW aerogel would be the most optimum choice since it provides a complete release of the extract in hydrophilic media, as demonstrated by in-vitro release and β-carotene bleaching inhibition studies, and it is able to reduce the colour loss and lipid oxidation in red meat upon refrigerated storage to a greater extent.

Sustainable Use of Fruit and Vegetable By-Products to Enhance Food Packaging Performance

“…An example is represented by Arundo donax , which is a tall perennial cane; from its waste biomass, cellulosic fraction was extracted with different degrees of purification. The cellulosic fraction of this hemicellulose-rich waste was used to obtain highly porous and super-absorbent bio-based aerogels [ 104 ]. Aerogels were obtained by freeze-drying method, from aqueous suspensions of the fractions extracted from the waste, stems and leaves.…”

Antibacterial cellulose-based aerogels for wound healing application: A review

“…Even non-medical applications have benefited from aerogels. Many scientists have joined the race to develop and fabricate such materials to serve humanity in many applications, including insulation 5,6 , absorption 7,8 , packaging 9,10 , supercapacitors 11,12 , catalysts 13,14 , energy storage 15,16 , filtration 17,18 , conduction 19,20 , sensing 21,22 , cleaning, and adsorption of wastes 23,24 . Figure 1 shows the summary of different non-medical applications of aerogels.…”

Metal-organic Framework-based Materials: Synthesis, Stability and Applications in Food Safety and Preservation

“…[16] Porous superabsorbent food packaging produced from cellulosebased aerogels were developed originated from the A. donax biomass with the ability to enrich and release antioxidants, suggesting a significant reduction of the color loss and lipid oxidation in red meat preservation. [17] Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a series of hybrid micro-or nano-crystalline porous coordination polymers synthesized through coordinate bonding between inorganic metal ion clusters and organic ligands. Following the initial concept and pioneering works of MOFs, [18,19] a worldwide emerging research in this field rose gradually with the simple self-assembly of metal ions and lig and molecules to synthesize the first generation of MOFs that were always not stable after removing the guest molecules.…”