Recovery and functional characterization of added-value metabolites from agro-industrial biomasses and residues
The by-products and agro-industrial residues are organic biomasses containing a large amount of high-value compounds (proteins, fibers, polyphenols, sugars, etc). The development of eco-sustainable extraction protocols allows to obtain, from these biomasses, bioactive molecules having numerous biotechnological and industrial applications and, at the same time, to reduce the environmental impact of these residues.
The research activities are aimed at the development (first in laboratory scale and then in the pre-industrial scale) of specific and diversified extraction protocols according to the type of target molecule (proteins / peptides, polyphenols, fibers, sugars), to the type of by-product and / or agro-industrial waste (e.g. pomace, wheat bran) to be treated and to the foreseen final use of the extracts (such as ingredients or additives for food, feed, cosmetics, nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, monomers for bioplastics), also in accordance with current regulations in the European area.
The target molecules are extracted, after mechanical or thermal pre-treatment of the biomass, through the use of solvents, chemical and / or enzymatic digestions, and the biochemical profile of the extracts is characterized by spectrophotometric, chromatographic and metabolomic techniques (HPLC-DAD, LC-MS), mono-dimensional and bi-dimensional gel electrophoresis.
The biological activity of the extracts (e.g. antioxidant, anti-hypertensive, anti-tyrosinase activities) is determined in vitro by spectrophotometric and enzymatic tests also in accordance with their expected biotechnological application.
In collaboration with Italian and international academic and industrial stakeholders all extraction protocols are validated in order to minimize the environmental, economic and social impacts.
Most relevant national and international projects:
Project BIORICE "Biotechnology for the recovery of valuable peptides RICE from industrial by-products and production of added value ingredients for nutraceuticals, functional foods and cosmetics" CAPACITIES FP7 (2013-2015). European Coordinator Dr. Annalisa Tassoni. Developed activities: extraction and functional characterization of bioactive peptides.
Project NOAW "No Agro-Waste: Innovative approaches to turn agricultural waste into ecological and economic assets" Horizon 2020 (2016-2021). Partner. Developed activities: extraction and functional characterization of polyphenols and hydroxycinnamic acids for the production of food ingredients and monomers for biopolymers.
Project AGRIMAX "Agri & food waste valorisation co-ops based on flexible multi-feedstocks biorefinery processing technologies for new high added value applications". BBI (Bio-Based Industries) (2016-2021). Partner. Developed activities: extraction and functional characterization of ferulic acid and other phenols for the production of biopolymers.
Project PROLIFIC “Integrated cascades of processes for the extraction and valorisation of proteins and bioactive molecules from legumes, fungi and coffee agro-industrial side streams” H2020 BBI-JU (2018-2022). Annalisa. Tassoni European Scientific Coordinator. Developed activities: biochemical characterization and biological activities of molecules extracted from legume, mushroom and coffee residues.
Project SOFIA "Sustainability of Agro-Food Chain". National Cluster AGRO-FOOD (2013-2017). Partner. Developed activities: extraction and functional characterization of bioactive peptides.