Annually, a substantial volume of food waste is being released into the environment. Restaurant food waste (RFW) valorization using microwave-assisted hydrolysis (MAH) is a sustainable approach to produce fermentable sugars. However, RFW is composed of different foodstuffs with different physicochemical, nutritional, and degradation rates. This study explored the typological, chemical, and elemental analysis of RFW. Results revealed that the four main types of RFW were vegetable (33.2 %), meat (19.3 %), rice (15.2 %), and bread waste (11.0 %). The key parameters impacting the MAH of typologically sorted RFW were identified using the Plackett–Burman design (PBD). Then the central composite design (CCD) with 30 runs was used to increase reducing sugar content (RSC). The optimized condition was as follows: temperature 96.0 °C, microwave power 340 W, HCl concentration of 1.45 %, and microwave heating time 11.1 min. The derived hydrolysates were characterized for their biochemical and monosaccharide composition.
Oil-contaminated water from oil and gas exploration remains the industry’s primary waste stream. The common method of using chemical coagulation/flocculation followed by air flotation has drawbacks such as generating non-biodegradable and toxic sludge and high operational costs. This study presents an eco-friendly alternative utilizing chitosan and beach sand to remove emulsified oil from water. Chitosan acts as a biodegradable flocculant, while beach sand aids in high-density floc formation and accelerates settling velocity. This approach achieved up to 94 % oil removal efficiency and reduced settling time from 90 to 15 min by using 100 mg/L chitosan and 500 mg/L beach sand with a particle size distribution of 50–100 μm. Shorter settling time reduces capital expenditure compared to conventional methods. Additionally, using natural materials like chitosan and beach sand minimizes toxic sludge generation. This eco-friendly approach offers a promising alternative to conventional methods for treating oily wastewater.
The growing need to obtain nanomaterials has resulted in a trend to avoid environmentally harmful methodologies involving chemicals that damage ecosystems and health by searching for natural reducers and stabilizers with zero polluting impact. In this research, zinc oxide nanoparticles were synthesized following an environmentally friendly synthesis methodology by using a natural extract of Bauhinia forficata that, thanks to its phytochemical composition rich in organic molecules such as polyphenols and flavonoids, allows the correct formation of nanoparticles by acting as stabilizers. The results of the characterizations show the proper formation of the nanoparticles and a direct relationship between the percentage used to obtain the nanoparticles and their properties. The results obtained from XRD show a hexagonal zincite shape and crystallite sizes in the range of 22.25–31.05 nm. The appearance of a signal at ∼400 cm−1 obtained from FTIR confirms the formation of the Zn-O- bond. Subsequently, the removal of different organic dyes from polluted water was analyzed using zinc oxide semiconductor nanoparticles as photocatalysts under ultraviolet light. The results show outstanding degradation of the dyes, being able to remove at least 98.0 %, 84.4 %, 94.64 %, 95.5 %, and 98.2 % for methylene blue, methyl orange, rhodamine-B, Congo red, and malachite green, respectively. Additionally, the antibacterial effect of the obtained materials against multiple pathogenic bacteria was studied. All the synthesized nanoparticle samples showed an antibacterial effect, even at low concentrations for all the analyzed pathogens. The results show the feasibility of using Bauhinia forficata to obtain zinc oxide nanoparticles and its multiple applications due to its improved properties.