Recycled raw materials for innovative food supplements, cosmetics or medical devices

NutraCO₂S project demonstrates that it is feasible to recover and transform agro-industrial production waste into new natural materials rich in bioactive molecules, which could be safely used in Food Supplements, Cosmetics or Medical Devices. The main project goal was to design and implement at pilot scale an environmentally friendly, industrially viable processing line based on the use of carbon dioxide for the treatment of agro-industrial waste.

The project objectives were accomplished by applying innovative, environmentally sustainable technologies such as membrane purification systems, wet-milling, and ultrasound processing (Lurederra R&D center), and supercritical-CO₂ extraction and fractioning processes (Exenia group), to isolate bioactive substances from waste residues obtained from agriculture production, specifically of tomato, rice and wine. The resulting processed materials (extracts) were in the form of oily or pasty masses (in the case of tomato peels and rice husk extracts) or heterogeneous aqueous suspensions (in the case of wine lees).

SITEC pharmabio applied its proprietary, CO₂-based, cryogenic spraying process (CryoXpand®) to transform such materials into solid microparticles containing high loads of each extract (up to 50% in weight). The extracts were appropriately formulated to yield flowable, micronized powders with good water dispersibility and solubilization properties and potentially improved absorption properties of the bioactive molecules. We developed prototype semi-finished micronized products containing high-value biomolecules such as lycopene, g-oryzanol, resveratrol, polyphenols, and natural polysaccharidic fibers. The micronized products were designed to be used in food supplements or to be further processed into the desired final product by Farmaceutici Procemsa.

NutraCO₂S project was conducted in the framework of ERA-Net MANUNET III program (RDNET17) by partner companies from Spain and Italy: SITEC pharmabio (Catalunya, Spain), Bodegas San Martin in collaboration with Lurederra Centro Tecnologico (Navarra, Spain), Exenia Group (Piemonte, Italy), Farmaceutici Procemsa (Piemonte, Italy) acting also as project coordinator.

Example of agro-waste recovery by NutraCO₂S project: from wine lees (A) to wet-milled purified extract (B), then to microspheres in powder form (C,D) obtained by cryospraying process

For its role in the project, SITEC received from Acció, Catalunya funding Agency, a grant covering approximately 70% of its projected costs. This successful outcome contributes strongly to expanding SITEC´s R&D capabilities, to exploring innovative features of its cryospraying technology, with the generation new intellectual property and to consolidating future collaborations with the project partners and other companies in the nutraceutical sector.