Spent coffee grounds (SCG) represent the main by-products of the coffee industry as they are obtained both during instant coffee production and as a result of coffee beverage consumption in restaurants, coffee shops, etc. We report herein the enhancement of a variety of properties of potential technological interest following treatment of SCG by a easy- to-do, scalable purification/activation process that will be presented.1 As an example, 2,2-diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay indicated a ca. 30-fold higher activity of the activated SCG in comparison with the untreated sample, while a ca. doubled Trolox equivalent value was measured in the ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP) assay (Table 1). A very high efficiency in the nitric oxide (NO) scavenging assay was also observed. A polyethylene (PE) film containing 2% activated SCG (Figure 1) showed improved stability toward thermal and photo-oxidative degradation. The use of this material in functional packaging is currently under investigation. Preliminary data on the binding of heavy metals and adsorption of model organic dyes encourage exploring the potential of activated SCG as an active component of filtering membranes.
BOOSTING THE ANTIOXIDANT, METAL BINDING, AND ADSORPTION PROPERTIES OF SPENT COFFEE GROUNDS BY AN EXPEDIENT ACTIVATION PROCESS: TOWARD THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MULTIFUNCTIONAL MATERIAL FOR TECHNOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS
M. d'Ischia
2015
Abstract
Spent coffee grounds (SCG) represent the main by-products of the coffee industry as they are obtained both during instant coffee production and as a result of coffee beverage consumption in restaurants, coffee shops, etc. We report herein the enhancement of a variety of properties of potential technological interest following treatment of SCG by a easy- to-do, scalable purification/activation process that will be presented.1 As an example, 2,2-diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay indicated a ca. 30-fold higher activity of the activated SCG in comparison with the untreated sample, while a ca. doubled Trolox equivalent value was measured in the ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP) assay (Table 1). A very high efficiency in the nitric oxide (NO) scavenging assay was also observed. A polyethylene (PE) film containing 2% activated SCG (Figure 1) showed improved stability toward thermal and photo-oxidative degradation. The use of this material in functional packaging is currently under investigation. Preliminary data on the binding of heavy metals and adsorption of model organic dyes encourage exploring the potential of activated SCG as an active component of filtering membranes.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
