Enhanced mitigation of VOCs, CO2 and odour emissions from organic fraction of solid waste using innovative biodegradable patches generated by supercritical carbon dioxide impregnation

Abstract

Improper management of agro-industrial food waste represents a significant issue due to the associated uncontrolled release of climate-altering gases, total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs) and odours. The present study proposes an innovative solution to mitigate these emissions with supercritical carbon dioxide impregnation, employed to load R-Carvone into patches made from compostable pouches directly applied on two matrices: pork fat and tomato peel and seeds. Under optimized operating conditions (33 °C, 200 bar, 2 bar min-1) patches with 54 % R-Cav were produced, resulting in reduced CO2 and TVOCs emissions up to 200 and 0.2 ppm per gram, and reduced associated odour annoyance.

Keywords

• Supercritical impregnation
• Antioxidant activity
• Agro-industrial food waste
• Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
• Carbon dioxide (CO2)
• Odour annoyance