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Unlocking the Potential of Spent Coffee Grounds as a Source of Humic-like Substances with High Antioxidant Capacity

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Abstract

Purpose

The environmental impacts of the coffee industry are enormous, with large quantities of solid and liquid wastes generated globally. In the last years, measures have been implemented to valorize spent coffee grounds (SCGs) biowaste as a resource. The present study assessed the unexplored potential use of SCGs as a source of valuable humic substances (HS)-like materials, and linked their antioxidant properties to their chemical composition.

Methods

Humic acid-like (HAL) and fulvic acid-like (FAL) were extracted from SCGs and characterized by elemental composition, UV-vis, FTIR, NMR and EPR spectroscopies. Their antioxidant capacity was determined in vitro through the ABTS decolorization assay and voltammetric techniques.

Results

Elemental and spectroscopic characteristics were in the range of soil HS. Both HAL and FAL showed a high antioxidant capacity (2.29 ± 0.18 mmole− gHAL−1 and 3.63 ± 0.21 mmole− gFAL−1). The differences in the antioxidant and electrochemical responses of HAL and FAL are related to their chemical structure.

Conclusion

The extraction of HS-like with remarkable antioxidant properties makes them a promising low-cost material to be upcycled in the agri-food system as natural fertilizer or novel antioxidants.

Statement of Novelty

For the first time, we demonstrated the potential of spent coffee grounds to act as a low-cost source of humic-like substances with enhanced antioxidant capacity.

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Data Availability

Data will be made available on reasonable request.

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Funding

C.B. acknowledges the financial support provided by Research Traineeship (TRA 2019-2) from the International Humic Substances Society, to stay at Embrapa Instrumentation Research Center, São Carlos/SP, Brazil, to perform EPR and NMR analysis.

R.M.R. acknowledges Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) for the Junior Research fellowship CEECIND/04259/2017.

E.B. acknowledges Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) for the Junior Research fellowship CEECIND/01598/2018.

R.P.G would like to thank the Ramón y Cajal contract RYC2021-033224-I, funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation and the National Agency for Research (0000421S140.06) from the Spain Govern (MCIN/AEI/https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033) and the European Union under the frame of “NextGenerationEU/PRTR” funds.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LAQV-REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre 687, Porto, 4169-007, Portugal

    Carlo Bravo, Rosa Pérez-Gregório, Elsa Brandão, Rui Miguel Ramos, Victor de Freitas & Susana Soares

  2. Department of Agricultural Food Environmental and Animal Sciences, University of Udine, Via Delle Scienze 206, Udine, 33100, Italy

    Carlo Bravo, Elisa Pellegrini, Marco Contin & Maria de Nobili

  3. Institute of Food and Agroecology, Food and Health Omics Group, University of Vigo, Campus As Lagoas s/n, Ourense, 32004, Spain

    Rosa Pérez-Gregório

  4. Embrapa Instrumentação Agropecuária, São Carlos, SP, CP 741, 13560-970, Brazil

    Ladislau Martin-Neto

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  1. Carlo Bravo
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  2. Rosa Pérez-Gregório
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Correspondence to Carlo Bravo or Rosa Pérez-Gregório.

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Bravo, C., Pérez-Gregório, R., Pellegrini, E. et al. Unlocking the Potential of Spent Coffee Grounds as a Source of Humic-like Substances with High Antioxidant Capacity. Waste Biomass Valor 15, 2769–2779 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-023-02344-9

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