Recovery and concentration of antioxidants from industrial effluents and from processing streams of underutilized vegetal biomass.

Abstract

The research on alternative sources of natural food antio xidants has been incentivized by the contradictory informat ion available on the safety of synthetic antioxidants and the biological properties of the natural ones. In this field, the utilization of abundant, biorenewable and low cost sources (for example, waste fractions from agricultural and industrial activ ities and the underutilized forestal and marine algal b io mass) has attracted a special interest. The efficient utilizat ion of these raw materials by methods involving environmentally friendly technologies has become a major target. In this study, the role of separation methods based on membranes and/or resins for the concentration and recovery of different fractions with antio xidant properties (ascribed to phenolics, soluble proteins and/or oligosaccharides) fro m liquid effluents obtained by processing residual and underutilized vegetal bio mass is reviewed.