Bioliquefaction as a biorefinery’s approach for the production of natural bioactive compounds for functional cosmetics

In Europe the agro industrial wastes are estimated to be as much as 250 million Tons/year. In the Mediterranean area the more abundant agro industrial wastes are related to cereals, grapes and olives transformations. This leads to a production of 2,3 million Tons from the winemaking production and 1,2 million Tons from the olive oil production and only the 25 % of these wastes is reused somehow. Their special functional properties such as biocompatibility, potential biodegradability, non-toxicity and a favourable CO2 balance make these wastes as renewable raw materials of fine chemicals to be used as such or to be transformed to synthetic products or for bio-fuel production in an Integrated Use Policy. Several phytochemicals (i.e., folic acid, L-ascorbic acid, oligoelements, carotenoids, vitamins, sterols and phenols) represent high value compounds such as the phenols from vegetables, known as biophenols, which present an ubiquitous nature in terrestrial higher plants and ferns while they are essentially absent in lower organisms and in animals. Biophenols as chemical defence agents of the plants show specific bioactivities and antioxidant properties to be used in several fields such as cosmetics, cosmetoceutical, nutraceutical and fine chemistry.