Sustainable chemical engineering of renewable resources

Abstract

The use of agro-industrial wastes is a prime target of utmost importance nowadays, because solutions to environmental pollution problems are crucial to achieving sustainable development and this approach can have a significant contribution towards the so called Renewable Raw Materials (RRM). This topic is considered today as one of the main scientific goals at international level, given its social, economic and environmental interest. Using waste to obtain useful materials avoids the expense of others often non-renewable materials, among many other benefits. Research groups are working on the application of the philosophy called cradle to grave in which companies may be able to convert their wastes into useful materials for themselves or others, thus closing a cycle of obvious benefits. Furthermore, the developed processes are based also on avoiding the use of toxic substances to the environment and achieve maximum economy and reduction of energy expenditure, i.e., by using renewable vs. conventional energy demanding ways of activation. Given their origin, the materials derived can be considered Ecomaterials. Some of the processes that have been implemented in our research group are: (1) Immobilization of enzymes and their use in biocatalytic processes (biodiesel and nutraceuticals production). (2) Renewable biomaterials are being used as matrices for regenerative medicine, based on analysis of their toxicities and their ability as scaffolds for cell growth. (3) Conversion of liquid wastes to fine chemicals and biohydrogen, avoiding the need to use petroleum derivatives. (4) Catalysts for environmental protection and (5) Multivalorization of agriwastes.