Valorization of sugarcane residues for the production of value added compounds

Abstract

Sugarcane is grown worldwide to produce ethanol and sugar. Due to the high volume of production, the accumulation of its byproducts such as bagasse and straw is high with approximately 280 million tones generated per year. Considering the chemical composition of these byproducts, these materials have recently been used to obtain value-added products for various applications, such as biofuels and natural products. Thus, the main objective of this work was to value the byproducts of sugarcane, namely bagasse and straw, as a source of bioactive extracts. Different extracts were obtained and exploited for their biological potential and application. The optimization of the extraction process had the objective of implementing a method of low environmental impact and with reduced costs. These extracts were further characterized as to their composition and concentration of bioactive compounds. Both extracts showed biological potential that allows their application in several products.

Date of Award	4 Dec 2018
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Ana Raquel Madureira (Supervisor) & Maria Manuela Pintado (Co-Supervisor)