Biovalorization of Agri-waste for the Production of Polyphenols
The losses related to the disposal of food represent direct financial disadvantages and water, agrarian, and input resources. Agro-industrial wastes, rich in biomass and organic matter, represent a significant source of biological compounds of interest for commercial exploitation. This chapter presents the main results from scientific studies about the biovalorization of wastes from the agri-food industry to produce polyphenols, considering the role of different groups of micro-organisms in this process. Phenolic compounds are ubiquitous and among the most abundant secondary metabolites found in plants and plant-derived products, including agro-industrial wastes. Phenolic acids can be divided into derivatives of benzoic and cinnamic acids. Supercritical fluid extraction, a method widely used to extract natural compounds from plant materials, is frequently applied to obtaining substances with biological activities from agri-food wastes. Some studies have accounted for high-pressure homogenization as a pretreatment to optimize the extraction of polyphenols and other bioactive compounds from agro-industrial wastes due to the disruption of plant tissues.
