Waste Management in the Agri-Food Industry: The Conversion of Eggshells, Spent Coffee Grounds, and Brown Onion Skins into Carriers for Lipase Immobilization

Abstract

One of the major challenges in sustainable waste management in the agri-food industry following the “zero waste” model is the application of the circular economy strategy, including the development of innovative waste utilization techniques. The conversion of agri-food waste into carriers for the immobilization of enzymes is one such technique. Replacing chemical catalysts with immobilized enzymes (i.e., immobilized/heterogeneous biocatalysts) could help reduce the energy efficiency and environmental sustainability problems of existing chemically catalysed processes. On the other hand, the economics of the process strongly depend on the price of the immobilized enzyme. The conversion of agricultural and food wastes into low-cost enzyme carriers could lead to the development of immobilized enzymes with desirable operating characteristics and subsequently lower the price of immobilized enzymes for use in biocatalytic production. In this context, this review provides insight into the possibilities of reusing food industry wastes, namely, eggshells, coffee grounds, and brown onion skins, as carriers for lipase immobilization.

Research in the Field of Drug Design and Development

“…These materials usually have a high surface area and various functional groups (hydroxyl-, carboxyl-, amino-, thiol-, and others) available for immobilization [ 19 , 21 ]. Examples of successfully used supporters from this group are eggshell [ 21 , 22 ], eggshell membrane [ 21 , 23 , 24 , 25 ], coconut fiber [ 21 , 26 , 27 , 28 ], corn cob [ 21 , 29 ], corn husk [ 21 , 30 ], rice husk [ 21 , 27 , 31 , 32 ], spent coffee grounds [ 21 , 33 , 34 ], spent grains [ 21 , 35 ], and so on.…”

Eggshell-Waste-Derived Calcium Acetate, Calcium Hydrogen Phosphate and Corresponding Eggshell Membranes

“…The transformation of ESW calcium carbonate to calcium acetate monohydrate and calcium hydrogen phosphate (Figure 2) yielded a small but valuable amount of ESMs (Table 1) enriched in the protein content (Table 2) and depleted of constitutive polysaccharides and at least some glycosaminoglycans (Figure 5). Although the amount of produced eggshell membranes were ~2.9%, the significant value of ESMs is reflected by their potential use as food supplement for the alleviation of joint pains [66], as well as suitable material for enzyme immobilization [7], justifying their concomitant production.…”

“…Huge amounts of eggshell waste (ESW) have been produced worldwide annually, but the majority of it unfortunately ends up in landfills, presenting a significant ecological burden, as well as a potential biohazard [1][2][3][4]. This is quite surprising since numerous scientific reports and patents [3,[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] clearly show the multiple usage possibilities of ESW. Regardless of the fact that ESW may be used to produce low-value added products, such as fertilizers or food for pets and animals, or to produce single value-added products, there is still a multitude of possibilities for ESW utilization, especially those oriented toward the production of high value-added products approaching the "zero-waste" model.…”

Heterologous expression and characterization of a novel thermostable and alkali stable recombinant lipase enzyme from Bacillus thuringensis into E. coliBL21(DE3) for detergent formulation

“…Lipolytic enzymes inclusive of lipases enzymes (EC 3.1.1.1, triacylglycerol hydrolases) and the true esterases are considered among the most important of hydrolases enzyme in different applications of biotechnology (Ramnath et al, 2017). Lipases enzyme (triacylglycerol hydrolases, EC 3.1.1.3) in the industry, are a valuable class of enzymes (Araujo et al, 2022) which can catalyze esterification, interesterification, and transesterification reactions in non‐aqueous conditions in addition to their natural role of hydrolyzing triacylglycerol to diacylglycerol, monoacylglycerol as well as glycerol and free fatty acids (Budžaki et al, 2022). These versatile properties enable lipases to be used in a variety of applications, including paper, textiles, food, feed, chemicals, detergents, and medications.…”