Development of green analytical methodologies in the search for high-added value organic compounds in agricultural waste

Abstract

It is estimated that a quarter of the approximately 140 billion tons of agricultural biomass produced per year worldwide is produced in Brazil, and that more than 30% of the total waste produced in this country are agricultural wastes. According to the United Nations, there is the need to intensify research on technologies for converting agricultural waste into useful resources to society. The search for compounds of interest in waste through advanced value-added strategies based on green technologies, before adding them to low value-added products, has been seen as a way to preserve environmental resources and as a strategy for diversify the generation of products from a single feedstock. In this project, the proponent planned to take advantage of his previous experiences in Green Chemistry applied to natural products and Analytical Chemistry, acquired in Brazil and abroad (he spent about 3 years between Spain, Italy, Suisse and Australia), in academia and in industry, on the chemical investigation of agricultural waste. The means of investigation their selves will be object of study, since analytical techniques are an important target for the application of principles of sustainability (nowadays, the ends cannot justify the means!). Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents (NADES) and biodegradable low toxicity solvents will be investigated as extractor medias and mobile phase modifiers, whereas ultra-high performance liquid chromatography at reduced flow rates will be preferably employed as separation technique. The project execution and the acquired results will be used to boost the teaching of sustainability principles and practices for students of "Engineering of Bioprocesses and Biotechnology" and for interns and graduate students linked to the newly created Department of Bioprocesses and Biotechnology and GreenBiotech Research Group to which the proponent is affiliated. A team of young scientists from Brazil, Australia and Holland operating in different subfields of chemistry has been strategically stablished to overcome challenges of the project. (AU)