Green technologies

The agro-food industry produces, every year, high quantities of wastes and by -products (i.e. peels, stems, leaves, wastewaters, etc.) throughout the entire production chain. These wastes, if not properly managed, poses serious economic and environmental problems, also due to increasingly restrictive regulations. On the other hand, these effluents represent a renewable resource of bioactive compounds (i.e., polyphenols, proteins, carbohydrates, phytochemicals, etc.), that can be used for various applications.

The procedure enables the fabrication of nanocomposite membranes filled with suitable amounts of exfoliated bidimensional crystals. These are obtained with an advanced wet-jet milling technique, which provides desired thickness and lateral size of nanofillers through the pulverization and colloidal homogenization of bulk nanomaterials. The bidimensional crystals are dispersed in fluids and suitably delivered inside polymeric matrixes exhibiting a singular morphology.