A Technology Platform For the Sustainable Recovery and Advanced Use of Nanostructured Cellulose from Agri-Food Residues (PANACEA Project)

The European food sector generates about 250 million ton/year of by-products and waste, of which around 10% is from fruit and vegetable processing, with a heavy environmental burden. The agri-food residues (AFRs) contain a significant fraction of cellulose and bioactive compounds, which, if recovered, are high added-value material components. The reduction of cellulose down to nano-sized crystalline structures (nanocellulose, NC) provides versatile building blocks, which self-assemble into new materials with superior performances. The PANACEA project, within the frame of PRIN 2017 call supported by the Italian Ministry of University and Research, proposes an approach based on the recovery of cellulose and bioactive compounds from AFRs, with high yield, at various degrees of hierarchical organization, by cascading different physical and chemical processes of increasing complexity, including physical processes and microbial digestion to obtain micro-and nano-sized cellulose structures while preserving their bioactivity. Chemical and enzymatic processes are used to isolate, purify, and functionalize NC at different levels of hierarchical organization, and to design advanced functional materials such as food ingredients, edible coatings, functional colloids, biocides, and flame retardants