Mechanical, Thermal and Morphological Study of Bio-Based PLA Composites Reinforced with Lignin-Rich Agri-Food Wastes for Their Valorization in Industry.

This study investigates the performance of different poly(lactic acid) (PLA) composites incorporating agri-food waste additives and commercial lignin, comparing their properties with those of virgin PLA. The following composites were prepared using a single-screw extruder: PLA with 20% rice husk, PLA with 20% wheat straw and PLA with 20% olive pit. Additionally, PLA was blended with commercial lignin at the maximum feasible proportion using the same methodology.

Extraction and Depolymerization of Lignin from Different Agricultural and Forestry Wastes to Obtain Building Blocks in a Circular Economy Framework.

Large amounts of agri-food waste are generated and discarded annually, but they have the potential to become highly profitable sources of value-added compounds. Many of these are lignin-rich residues. Lignin, one of the most abundant biopolymers in nature, offers numerous possibilities as a raw material or renewable resource for the production of chemical products.

Effect of High-Pressure Treatments on the Properties of Food Packaging Materials with or without Antimicrobials.

The aim of this research work was the comparative study of the different properties of interest in the case of plastic materials for food use before and after being subjected to treatment by high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) as well as the impact of additivation with antimicrobials. This method of food preservation is currently on the rise and is of great interest because it is possible to extend the shelf life of many foods without the need for the use of additives or thermal processing, as is the case with other preservation methods currently used. The effects of HHP treatment (680 MPa for 8 min) on plastic materials commonly used in the food industry were studied.

Automated on-line liquid-liquid extraction in a multisyringe flow injection analysis manifold for migration studies in food-contact materials: analysis of 4,4´-dihydroxybiphenyl.

Packaging may represent a source of food contamination, as different organic compounds and degradation compounds may migrate from packaging to foodstuff. For fatty foods, rectified olive oil is the common simulant, which implies time-consuming and laborious liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) procedures to isolate the contaminant(s) from the oil. Here we propose a Multisyringe Flow Injection Analysis manifold to automate this sample treatment, using the monomer 4,4´-dihydroxybiphenyl as the contaminant.

Novel sequential separation and determination of a quaternary mixture of fungicides by using an automatic fluorimetric optosensor.

A versatile flow-through multi-optosensor is proposed for the separation and spectrofluorimetric determination of mixtures of four widely used pesticides: carbendazim, thiabendazole, carbaryl and o-phenylphenol at µg g levels in fruits. The flow system is based on the online pre-concentration and separation of the pesticides on a solid sensing microzone, followed by the sequential measurement of their native fluorescence. The separation of the pesticides takes place on a solid support located in the same flow cell, on which analytes are temporarily immobilized and separated from the matrix due to their different retention/desorption kinetics when they interact with the C silica gel microbeads.