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Sustainability
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Biopolymers from Agri-Food Wastes: Prospects and Sustainability Challenges
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Biopolymers from Agri-Food Wastes: Prospects and Sustainability Challenges

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Agriculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2021) | Viewed by 7627

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Rajeev Bhat

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
ERA-Chair in Food (By-) Products Valorisation Technologies (VALORTECH), Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 56/5, 51006 Tartu, Estonia
Interests: sustainable food production; food quality and safety; food processing and preservation technology; nutraceuticals; food for health; novel food products
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Finding sustainable practical solutions and potential applications for agri-food wastes is a much-desired focus of research in the present decade. Applying novel concepts and sustainable strategies for reduction of agri-food wastes coupled with maximal utilization for producing value-added compounds/products can not only support the economy, but also contribute towards reducing the stress on the environment. Understanding the basics of minimizing loss and wastage along the entire agri-food supply chain can benefit producers, consumers and dependent industries. However, designing appropriate sustainable value-added chains and business models remains a prerequisite to attain much-desired success.

In modern agri-food production systems, several sustainability challenges need to be overcome. Traditionally, agri-food wastes (i.e., biomass) have been exploited for producing biofuels, chemicals, livestock feed and much more. In the present-day global scenario, great importance is placed on exploring the efficacy of these wastes for producing value-added products such as natural biopolymers with potential applications. Biopolymers are polymeric materials generally synthesized by cells in a living entity. Being natural, they are considered to be non-toxic, bio-compatible, easily biodegradable recyclable materials with distinctive features and unique properties. Appropriate modifications of agri-food industrial wastes and residues (as renewable sources) can open avenues for producing novel biopolymers of interest. Nevertheless, ever-increasing demand for natural biopolymers remains high owing to their wide practical usage in food, cosmetics, pharmaceutical and biomedical industries.

In this Special Issue, we invite original research articles, short communications and reviews that focus mainly on recognising present gaps, overcoming sustainability challenges and identifying future opportunities to produce biopolymers from agri-food wastes.

Prof. Dr. Rajeev Bhat
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Sustainable production
  • Wastes (plant and animal)
  • Residues
  • Valorization strategies
  • Green techniques
  • Cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, lignin, starch
  • Collagen, casein
  • Recovery
  • Polymers
  • Biopolymer blends and composites
  • Food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries
  • Circular economy
  • Carbon footprint
  • Environmental impacts and safety
  • Regulatory and legislative issues

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 12824 KiB  
Article
Medium Optimization for Spore Production of a Straw-Cellulose Degrading Actinomyces Strain under Solid-State Fermentation Using Response Surface Method
by Huanran Liu, Dan Zhang, Xia Zhang, Chuanzhi Zhou, Pei Zhou and Yuee Zhi
Sustainability 2020, 12(21), 8893; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12218893 - 27 Oct 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2382
Abstract
The strains capable of degrading cellulose have attracted much interest because of their applications in straw resource utilization in solid-state fermentation (SSF). However, achieving high spore production in SSF is rarely reported. The production of spores from Streptomyces griseorubens JSD-1 was investigated in [...] Read more.
The strains capable of degrading cellulose have attracted much interest because of their applications in straw resource utilization in solid-state fermentation (SSF). However, achieving high spore production in SSF is rarely reported. The production of spores from Streptomyces griseorubens JSD-1 was investigated in shaker-flask cultivation in this study. The optimal carbon, organic nitrogen and inorganic nitrogen sources were sucrose, yeast extract and urea, respectively. Plackett–Burman design (PBD) was adopted to determine the key medium components, and the concentration levels of three components (urea, NaCl, MgSO4·7H2O) were optimized with the steepest ascent path and central composite design (CCD), achieving 1.72 × 109 CFU/g of spore production. Under the optimal conditions (urea 2.718% w/v, NaCl 0.0697% w/v, MgSO4·7H2O 0.06956% w/v), the practical value of spore production was 1.69 × 109 CFU/g. The determination coefficient (R2) was 0.9498, which ensures an adequate credibility of the model. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biopolymers from Agri-Food Wastes: Prospects and Sustainability Challenges)
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Review

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12 pages, 306 KiB  
Review
Applications of Absorbent Polymers for Sustainable Plant Protection and Crop Yield
by Hazem S. Elshafie and Ippolito Camele
Sustainability 2021, 13(6), 3253; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13063253 - 16 Mar 2021
Cited by 46 | Viewed by 4492
Abstract
Natural strategies for protecting the environment as well as plant, animal and human health is considered one of the main goals of developed countries. Recently, the use of absorbent polymers and hydrogel in agriculture has demonstrated several benefits for soil amendments, saving water [...] Read more.
Natural strategies for protecting the environment as well as plant, animal and human health is considered one of the main goals of developed countries. Recently, the use of absorbent polymers and hydrogel in agriculture has demonstrated several benefits for soil amendments, saving water content, reducing the consumption of soil nutrients, minimizing the negative impacts of dehydration and moisture stress in crops and controlling several phytopathogens. The seed-coating technology for establishing the crops is a recent common practice used for improving seed protection and enhancing plant growth. Coating materials include absorbent polymers and hydrogels based on growth regulators, pesticides, fertilizers and antagonist microorganisms. The current review has highlighted the importance of different types of superabsorbent polymers and hydrogels in an integrated strategy to protect seeds, plants and soil in a balanced manner to preserve the ecosystem. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biopolymers from Agri-Food Wastes: Prospects and Sustainability Challenges)
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