BENIGN CASCADE EXTRACTIVE BIOREFINERY FOR CONVERTING AGRI-FOOD SIDE STREAMS INTO HIGH-VALUE POLYPHENOLIC BIOACTIVES AND FUNCTIONAL FIBRES FOR PHARMA, COSMECEUTICALS, NUTRACEUTICALS AND FOOD PRODUCTS

Project Information

PHENOLEXA

Grant agreement ID: 101023225

DOI

10.3030/101023225

Project closed

EC signature date 4 May 2021

Start date 1 June 2021

End date 31 May 2024

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy

Total cost

€ 4 613 695,00

EU contribution

€ 3 902 695,00

Coordinated by

CIVITTA EESTI AS
Estonia

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PHENOLEXA (BENIGN CASCADE EXTRACTIVE BIOREFINERY FOR CONVERTING AGRI-FOOD SIDE STREAMS INTO HIGH-VALUE POLYPHENOLIC BIOACTIVES AND FUNCTIONAL FIBRES FOR PHARMA, COSMECEUTICALS, NUTRACEUTICALS AND FOOD PRODUCTS)

Reporting period: 2021-06-01 to 2024-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Annually, the agricultural sector in Europe creates a lot of biomass waste. Some agricultural side streams are affluent in bioactive compounds of polyphenolic nature, which prove antioxidant, antimicrobial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, and even anticancer activities. While such waste biomass demonstrates a considerable potential for producing high-value ingredients serving various markets, its usage in the biorefinery process is limited due to a lack of sustainable, economically viable and effective technologies. Therefore, despite the presence of biorefineries for agri-waste utilisation, they mainly focus on energy production, biofuels, and low and mid-value products such as compost, forage, and animal feed. At the same, the growing and ageing population creates an increasing demand for new pharmaceutical, cosmeceutical, and cosmeceutical products based on natural active ingredients.
The PHENOLEXA project addressed the mentioned challenge and aimed to build a totally novel benign extractive biorefinery that could satify the evolving demand and contribute to the development of the circular economy.
Therefore, the PHENOLEXA aimed to establish a circular agricultural process for four unexplored types of waste which are known for the highest polyphenolic content in comparison to other ones.
The biorefinery process aimed to be based on the cascade approach:
- feedstock pre-treatment (physical and biological);
- benign extraction using novel green solvents and subcritical water;
- fractionalisation by membrane filtration and chromatography;
- bioactives’ stabilisation through encapsulation for their functionality preservation.
The main vision of the PHENOLEXA project was to preserve, enhance and exploit the chemical functionality of natural bioactive compounds. This would allow their use in three high-value applications (pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmeceutical) to support human health and well-being while also generating some inulin, functional fibers, and colorants suitable for the food Industry.
As the project is concluded, all the planned activities were performed and objectives achieved. The project results can be further exploited for planning and constructing DEMO plants by using materials and building blocks most efficiently. The most promising value chain based on the project results, was red onion biorefinery with suitable pre-treatment and extraction methods.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The main outcome of the PHENOLEXA project is the establishment of a benign, efficient, and envi-ronmentally friendly biorefinery process to procure high-value polyphenolic BACs from agricultural side-streams, namely chicory, onion, olive, and grape. The final biorefinery processes were selected and combined based on the best methods and processes to procure BACs from different type of agricultural waste. In total, PHENOLEXA developed and tested 12 innovative technologies/methodologies for processing spe-cific types of agricultural side streams rich in polyphenols:
•4 biomass pre-treatment technologies;
•2 extraction and 2 purification techniques;
•1 functionalization technique;
•3 encapsulation and stabilization methodologies.
Through the research and development activities, the project contributed to the new knowledge in biowaste valorisation, extraction technologies, bio and physical pre-treatment, polyphenols chemistry and activities, new knowledge in bio and physical pre-treatment, lignocellulose processing, polyphenols chemistry and properties.
Main achievement of the project was:
•Fully definement of the feedstockes addressed in terms of quantity produced, most relevant geographical areas, main producers, actual and theoretical composition, stability over time, current best practices of feedstock use, and procedures for the develop-ment of a suitable supply chain for the PHENOLEXA biorefinery.
•Development and optimization of two pre-treatment technologies/methodologies of PHENOLEXA feedstocks at the pilot scale.
•Development and optimization of two extraction processes of PHENOLEXA feedstocks at pilot scale.
•Development and optimization of two concentration and purification technologies processes of PHENOLEXA extracts at pilot scale.
•Technology for the functionalization of polyphenols by prenylation has been developed and effect of the modification evaluated in biological assays.
•Different effects of extracted polyphenols have been studied using wide variety of in vivo and in vitro studies.
•During the BACs procurement process, functional fibers and colourants generated were used in food and beverage products. In addition, the use of BACs was demonstrated in the prototypes of the cosmetic formulations (e.g. cremes, tonic, serum).
A set of dissemination and communication actions were designed and implemented through the whole life cycle of the project. PHENOLEXA launched networking activities with seven bioeconomy projects - OLEAF4VALUE, SISTERS, FoodSafety4EU, BioCircularCities, ONFOODS, Circular Design, SAFE.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

PHENOLEXA project achieved all its objectives and all six envisioned primary impacts:
(1) Connecting the agricultural sector with at least one of these industries: pharmaceutical, cosmeceutical, nutraceutical, and food industries by creating thirteen potentially novel products.
(2) Setting the basis for at least one new bio-based value chain among eight potential ones.
(3) Bringing at least one innovative technology out of twelve to the next TRL level. Considering that some pre-treatment techniques have never targeted polyphenolic procurement, the PHENOLEXA team is very excited about a possible paradigm shift in biorefinery.
(4) New demonstrated “consumer” products based on bio-based chemicals. The use of bioactive compounds will be verified and demonstrated in the prototypes of the consumer products, such as pharmaceutical drugs (capsules), cosmetic formulations (e.g. cremes, tonic, serum), nutraceuticals, preserved and functional foods (e.g. bakery, pasta, etc).
(5) PHENOLEXA has an ambition of contributing to Objective #3 of the BBIJU Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA), which aims to increase the utilisation of currently unused sources by 2030.
(6) PHENOLEXA contributes to Objective #5 of of the BBIJU Innovation and Research Agenda on pursuing zero-waste solutions by ensuring utilisation of most parts of the original feedstocks generating non-hazardous wastes with possible further applications in additional sectors as animal feed, materials and phytosanitary.
Besides these primary impacts, in the long-term, PHENOLEXA results will create vast environementl and socio-economic impacts.
The project used agriculture side streams as feedstock that would otherwise be in majority landfilled. In the long term, by diverting the PHENOLEXA feedstocks to produce high value ingredients and fibers, the potential CO2 savings could reach as high as ca. 12.7-280 Mt CO2 from olive and vineyard wastes, 3.6 Mt CO2 from onion and chicory waste and 115 Mt CO2e from me-thane formation from landfill. Also, the used chemical mixtures during extraction are considered safe for the environment and health, thus the procured BACS can be used in food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical formulations. The project outputs are bioactive compounds and product prototypes that can be used in and developed into a wide range of consumer products, which will be safe bio-based alternatives rather than products with chemically synthesised bioactive ingredients and drugs.

PHENOLEXA Consortium Meeting in Valladolid, May 2024

Kevin Leonard from Celabor representing the PHENOLEXA feestocks at the conference

PHENOLEXA Consortium Meeting in Tarragona, June 2022

PHENOLEXA prototypes