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Mercedes Jiménez Rosado

Mercedes Jiménez Rosado
Universidad de León

PhD Facilities and Systems for Industry: Industrial and Environmental Chemistry Projects

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96
Publications
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Introduction
Skills and Expertise

Publications

Publications (96)
Chapter
More than one-third of the food produced in the world is discarded as waste. This waste appears especially as hygienic and quality discards, not allowing them to be incorporated into the food market. However, the waste caused by the inedible parts of food (skins, bones, seeds, etc.) also adds to these discards. This waste generates a great economic...
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In today’s market, the pursuit of product optimization is not just a trend but a necessity while facing the challenges of supplying a wider range of products, sustainability pressures, and the requirement for continuous innovation [...]
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Controlled-release systems are gaining interest in the horticultural industry to supply fertilizers to crops. However , their manufacturing process increases their cost, making its industrialization difficult. In this context, compaction of powders could be a low-cost and easily industrializable alternative. Thus, the main objective of this work wa...
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Protein-based bioplastics have been highly investigated in order to substitute conventional plastics. This is due to their biodegradability and natural origin, which reduce the well-known plastic pollution. Nevertheless, their low mechanical properties and high environmental sensitivity have slowed their advance to the market. One solution to this...
Article
Proteins are sources of peptides and amino acids which are able to stimulate plant growth through mechanisms such as enhancement of root growth and increased availability of micronutrients. Protein-based matrices are a novel source of these raw materials since they allow their availability in small, prolonged doses, which could be of interest in in...
Chapter
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Una gran cantidad de los cultivos en la región de MANORPA, norte de El Paraíso (Honduras), se están desechando afectados por los eventos climáticos. El objetivo de este trabajo es generar alternativas de utilización de desechos agroindustriales, mediante el fortalecimiento de la innovación y desarrollo de productos sostenibles. Por tanto, se contri...
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Cancer is a disease that continues to greatly impact our society. Developing new and more personalized treatment options is crucial to decreasing the cancer burden. In this study, we combined magnetic polysaccharide microparticles with a Pluronic thermoresponsive hydrogel to develop a multifunctional, injectable drug delivery system (DDS) for magne...
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Chitosan (CH) is a very well-known biopolymer that has been widely used for the development of biomaterials with a wide range of applications in the biomedical field, such as the preparation of hydrogels, owing to its outstanding anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antifungal properties, biocompatibility and biodegradability, although they present...
Article
Biocomposites based on wheat gluten and reinforced with carbon fibers were produced in line with the strive to replace fossil-based plastics with microplastic-free alternatives with competing mechanical properties. The materials were first extruded/compounded and then successfully injection molded, making the setup adequate for the current industri...
Article
Protein-based porous absorbent structures can be processed and assembled into configurations suitable for single-use, biodegradable sanitary materials. In this work, a formulation based on a mixture of proteins available as industrial coproducts is processed into continuous porous structures using extrusion and assembled using conventional thermal...
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Barley is one of the most consumed cereals, with many different cultivars available worldwide. Like other crops, its yield has been affected by climate change and soil degradation. This work proposes controlled-release protein-based matrices with incorporated zinc to improve barley seed germination and zinc content in the plant. Thus, the main obje...
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Replacing conventional plastics with other products obtained from biobased and biodegradable raw materials is an increasingly studied solution. In this line, the development of protein-based bioplastics is a promising alternative. However, for some applications, such as packaging it would be necessary to improve their properties by including an add...
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Due to the increase in horticultural production intensive techniques are needed. These techniques generate soil degradation, since the natural recovery time between crops is insufficient. The usual way to solve this problem is the use of fertilizers, as they are effective in the short time available. Conventional fertilizers are highly soluble salt...
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Cite This Article: Alonso-González, M.; Sánchez-Barahona, M.; Jiménez-Rosado, M.; Rivera-Flores, O.; Castro-Osorto, E.; Ramos-Casco, L. Evaluation and potential valorization of different wastes from the Honduran agro-food industry. Mat Int 2020, 2, 0263-0270. https://doi. Abstract: Apart from the usual wastes produced by the agricultural industry,...
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Citation: Castro-Criado, D.; Rivera-Flores, O.; Abdullah, J.A.A.; Castro-Osorto, E.; Alonso-González, M.; Ramos-Casco, L.; Perez-Puyana, V.M.; Sánchez-Barahona, M.; Sánchez-Cid, P.; Jiménez-Rosado, M.; et al. Valorization of Honduran Agro-Food Waste to Produce Bioplastics. Polymers 2023, 15, 2625. (J.A.A.A.); maralonso@us.es (M.A.-G.); vperez11@us....
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Beer bagasse is a residue produced in large quantities, though it is undervalued in the industry. Its high protein and polysaccharide content make it attractive for use in sectors such as the manufacture of bioplastics. However, its high water content makes it necessary to stabilize it before being considered as a raw material. The main objective o...
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Recently, nanoparticles (NPs) synthesis has evolved into a green nanotechnology field, requiring more eco-synthesis of nanoparticles due to the high costs of other chemical-physical methods. Among the most commonly used...
Cover Page
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Cover Story: This article explores the importance of antioxidants and antibacterial agents in biosystems and the potential use of iron oxide nanoparticles as agents to minimize free radical reactions and pathogen growth. The study focuses on the effects of the calcination process on the properties of iron oxide nanoparticles synthesized using green...
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Nowadays, antioxidants and antibacterial activity play an increasingly vital role in biosystems due to the biochemical and biological reactions that involve free radicals and pathogen growth, which occur in many systems. For this purpose, continuous efforts are being made to minimize these reactions, including the use of nanomaterials as antioxidan...
Article
Climate Change, the large accumulation of waste, the generation of microplastics and the recent scarcity of raw materials are some of the problems that have led to a radical change in the conception of economy from a linear system to a circular system. Thus, different policies, such as the European Green Deal or Horizon Europe, have been created on...
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The production of biologically active molecules or the addition of new bioactive ingredients in foods, thereby producing functional foods, has been improved with nanoemulsion technology. In this sense, the aim of this work was to develop nanoemulsified beverages as potential candidates for the encapsulation of bioactive compounds, whose integrity a...
Article
Society demands that new strategies for learning processes put a greater focus on the students. Thus, new methods must be implemented in higher education studies, leaving guided learning, which is evaluated at the end of the course. The high percentage of abandonment of university studies calls for the implementation of teaching systems in which st...
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Nowadays, biopolymer-based films are being developed as an alternative to conventional plastic-based films, mainly because they are non-toxic, flexible, inexpensive, and widely available. However, they are restricted in their applications due to several deficiencies in their properties. Accordingly, the reinforcement of these materials with nanopar...
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Nowadays, natural polymer-based films are considered potentially environmentally friendly alternatives to conventional plastic films, due to many advantageous properties, including their easy processability, high flexibility, non-toxicity, low cost, high availability, and environmental safety. However, they are limited in their application by a num...
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Fertilization is an increasingly common practice in horticulture. Nevertheless, the conventionally used fertilization method is ineffective, and it generates contamination problems due to excess nutrients. Therefore, new technologies, such as nanofertilization or controlled-release systems of fertilizers, are currently being tested. Thus, the main...
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Conventional plastics can be substituted for protein-based bioplastics due to their natural origin and their biodegradability. Nevertheless, their properties are inferior to those obtained for synthetic plastics. The chemical crosslinking of these bioplastics with aldehydes could improve their properties to compete in the actual market. Thus, the m...
Chapter
The great versatility and price of protein-based bioplastics have led them to be considered the best option to substitute conventional plastics. Among their characteristics, the ability to have antimicrobial activity has aroused great interest in sectors such as food industry, pharmacy, medicine or agriculture. All this has meant that research in t...
Preprint
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In the last few decades, nanoparticles (NPs) synthesis has evolved into a green nanotechnology field, requiring more eco-synthesis of nanoparticles due to the high costs of other chemical-physical methods. Among the most commonly used nanomaterials, ZnO-NPs are highly valuable due to their specific, thermal, optical, and electronic features. Thus,...
Preprint
Full-text available
Recently, nanoparticles (NPs) synthesis has evolved into a green nanotechnology field, requiring more eco-synthesis of nanoparticles due to the high costs of other chemical-physical methods. Among the most commonly used nanomaterials, ZnO-NPs are highly valuable due to their specific, thermal, optical, and electronic features. Thus, the main object...
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Full-text available
Nowadays, there are still numerous challenges for well-known biomedical applications, such as tissue engineering (TE), wound healing and controlled drug delivery, which must be faced and solved. Hydrogels have been proposed as excellent candidates for these applications, as they have promising properties for the mentioned applications, including bi...
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Iron oxide nanoparticles (FexOy-NPs) are currently being applied in numerous high-tech sectors, such as in chemical sectors for catalysis and in the medical sector for drug delivery systems and antimicrobial purposes, due to their specific, unique and magnetic properties. Nevertheless, their synthesis is under continuous investigation, as physicoch...
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Climate change and the enhancement of ecology have generated the need to create packaging that is biodegradable and, at the same time, allows food to be preserved efficiently in order to avoid the accumulation of plastic and minimize food waste. In this sense, protein-based bioplastics are a promising alternative, but due to their limited propertie...
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The nanoparticles (NPs) synthesis poses an environmental problem: the formation of other toxic substances. An eco-friendlier alternative method based on the use of polyphenolic extracts is gaining interest due to their potential to reduce metal salts for the formation of NPs without toxic products. Thus, the main objective of this work was to obtai...
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Agri-food waste and by-products are being increasingly revalued, exploiting their potential. One of the attractive alternatives is their use as raw materials for the production of bioplastics due to their high protein content, generating eco-friendly bioplastics, since they come from renewable sources and are biodegradable. However, their industria...
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Currently, gelatin-based films are regarded as promising alternatives to non-environmentally friendly plastic films for food packaging. Nevertheless, although they have great biodegradability, their weak mechanical properties and high solubility limit their applications. In this way, the use of nanoparticles, such as FexOy-NPs, could improve the pr...
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Acknowledgements to Reviewers The Editors of the Journal of Food Engineering would like to thank the following subject matter experts for their support to scientific publishing through peer reviews of multiple manuscripts that they have performed for the journal in 2021. Without the generous support of these professionals. Journal of Food Engineer...
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In the last few years, electrospinning has proved to be one of the best methods for obtaining membranes of a micro and nanometric fiber size. This method mainly consists in the spinning of a polymeric or biopolymeric solution in solvents, promoted by the difference in the electric field between the needle and collector, which is finally deposited a...
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Hydrogels are considered good biomaterials for soft tissue regeneration. In this sense, collagen is the most used raw material to develop hydrogels, due to its high biocompatibility. However, its low mechanical resistance, thermal stability and pH instability have generated the need to look for alternatives to its use. In this sense, the combinatio...
Article
Circular economy is becoming one of the most important concepts in the world economy due to the great environmental benefits it presents. However, the lack of qualified personnel in this area is causing a great rejection in the industrial sector. In this way, University of Seville is including teaching dedicated to the circular economy in its acade...
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Virtual tools are frequently used in education. Among them, the use of virtual laboratories could be an interesting alternative to strengthen the practical concepts of the students, especially in the current paradigm in which the presence of students is often not possible. For this reason, the aim of this study was to analyse the use of different d...
Book
Los residuos agroalimentarios se están convirtiendo en una problemática cada vez más presente en la vida actual, debido a la nueva filosofía de economía circular. De esta forma, todas las empresas están buscando alternativas sostenibles para estos residuos, pudiendo así mejorar su paradigma de contaminación medioambiental, mientras que optimiza su...
Article
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New methodologies improve the motivation and participation of students, which helps them to achieve a more complete and better teaching-learning process. In these methodologies, the students become active subjects who actively think, ask, suggest, decide and express their ideas, whereas teachers act as a driving force for the process. This study an...
Article
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Bioplastics are mostly processed by injection molding. However, more continuous techniques are still being tested, such as extrusion, which allow them to be produced at a lower cost. In this way, the principal objective of this work was to develop soy protein‐based bioplastics with zinc sulphate (fertilizer) incorporated by extrusion, using differe...
Article
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The regeneration of soft tissues that connect, support or surround other tissues is of great interest. In this sense, hydrogels have great potential as scaffolds for their regeneration. Among the different raw materials, chitosan stands out for being highly biocompatible, which, together with its biodegradability and structure, makes it a great alt...
Chapter
Bioplastics have become a potential alternative to the use of plastics. More specifically, they will contribute to reducing the high accumulation of plastics, which is caused by their low biodegradability. In addition, these bioplastics can be obtained from waste and by-products from other industries (mainly agri-food), which not only lower their c...
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Skeletal muscle regeneration is increasingly necessary, which is reflected in the increasing number of studies that are focused on improving the scaffolds used for such regeneration, as well as the incubation protocol. The main objective of this work was to improve the characteristics of polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffolds by incorporating elastin to...
Article
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Developing scaffolds by combining different polymers in order to improve the properties of the bare polymers has become an extensively applied practice. Polycaprolactone (PCL) is a synthetic polyester with outstanding properties for tissue engineering (TE), although it does have certain drawbacks that can be counteracted by combining it with other...
Article
Debido al incremento en la edad de la población, la esperanza de vida así como las mejoras tecnológicas ha aumentado el interés en los biomateriales, los cuales son diseñados para interactuar con los sistemas biológicos facilitando el funcionamiento de los mismos o, simplemente, reemplazarlos. El desarrollo de biomateriales con características adec...
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La situación actual ha generado la necesidad de replantearse la enseñanza no presencial. No obstante, este tipo de enseñanza en carreras científico-técnicas puede tener grandes inconvenientes. Por este motivo, en este trabajo se plantea una comparativa entre la elaboración de prácticas presenciales y no presenciales en asignaturas científicas y téc...
Chapter
Electrospinning is a versatile process that allows obtaining membranes formed by micro- and nanometric fibres. Electrospun nanofibrous membranes offer many advantages over traditional fibres, such as high specific surface area, tunable porosity, greater flexibility and ease of manipulating fibre chemical compositions and structures for desired proper...
Article
Full-text available
Controlled release systems are increasing their presence on the market. However, their use is not generating a great impact on horticultural production, mainly due to their price, which makes crop production more expensive. This work proposes a cheaper alternative for the manufacture of these devices. Thus, an agri-food byproduct (soy protein isola...
Article
Actually, there is a need to develop more sustainable novel techniques for incorporating fertilizers into crops. Researchers have proposed the controlled release of these fertilizers from biodegradable protein-based matrices. This technique must be optimized, as it involves a higher initial incorporation of micronutrients compared to that eventuall...
Article
Throughout history, different techniques have been used for the development of scaffolds for Tissue Engineering. Among them, three-dimensional (3D) printing for this application has been recently enhanced due to its ease in defining the structure of the material. In this sense, a novel potential alternative could be the development of a three-part...
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In recent years, tissue engineering research has led to the development of this field by designing scaffolds with better properties that can fulfill its purpose of better and faster tissue regeneration, consequently improving people's quality of life. Scaffolds are matrices, predominantly composed of polymeric materials, whose main function is to o...
Article
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The union of nanoscience (nanofertilization) with controlled release bioplastic systems could be a key factor for the improvement of fertilization in horticulture, avoiding excessive contamination and reducing the price of the products found in the current market. In this context, the objective of this work was to incorporate ZnO nanoparticles in s...
Article
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The elaboration of bioplastics from renewable polymers (e.g., proteins) is a field with great potential for industrial applications such as food packaging and agriculture. This study evaluates the development of bioplastic systems by injection molding using two different raw materials: soy protein isolate (SPI) and pea protein isolate (PPI). Both p...
Article
The production of bioplastics from renewable and biodegradable sources could be a great potential option for the substitution of conventional plastics. In this way, raw materials and processing method have been investigated to improve their competitiveness in the actual market. However, the extra treatment that bioplastics must undergo to improve t...
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Recent studies proposed the use of soy protein-based bioplastic matrices with incorporated micronutrient to mitigate against the excessive use of fertilizers in horticulture. However, the micronutrient incorporation reduced the superabsorbent capacity of these bioplastic matrices. All this reduces their use as a source of water for crops in times o...
Article
The excessive use of fertilizers in horticulture applications generates subsoil and groundwater contamination due to their high solubility. A possible solution to this problem is the incorporation of nutrients in biodegradable matrices, allowing nutrients to be released in a controlled manner depending on the needs of the crops. The principal objec...
Article
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Within the field of materials science and engineering, anisotropic materials outstand for their great versatility. Their properties are different depending on the direction in which they are produced, being able to adapt better to heterogeneous behaviors, typical in almost all applications (i.e. tissue engineering or architecture), without having t...
Article
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Biomaterials have been used since ancient times. However, it was not until the late 1960s when their development prospered, increasing the research on them. In recent years, the study of biomaterials has focused mainly on tissue regeneration, requiring a biomaterial that can support cells during their growth and fulfill the function of the replaced...
Article
The bioplastics manufactured are still not competitive compared to conventional plastics, due to their higher price and poor mechanical properties. For this purpose, different physical strengthening methods have been studied to evaluate the reinforcement of soy protein-based bioplastics: mold temperature increase (from 70 °C to 130 °C), as the appl...
Article
Full-text available
Recent high levels of horticulture production cause an impoverishment of soil nutrients that may seriously impair crop yields. This forces farmers to rely on the use of fertilizers. However, it also involves an increase in the contamination risks associated with their supply. A possible alternative to supply these fertilizers could be the use of bi...
Article
Full-text available
Regenerative medicine is increasingly focused on the development of biomaterials that facilitate cell adhesion and proliferation through the use of natural polymers, which have better biocompatibility and biodegradability. In this way, the use of hydrogels has been considered as a potential option for tissue engineering due to their physical and ch...
Article
Realización de un mapa conceptual interactivo de la asignatura de Química General que se imparte en los grados de Ingeniería Química, Ingeniería Eléctrica, Ingeniería Electrónica Industrial, Ingeniería Mecánica, Ingeniería Química Industrial y en Ingeniería en Diseño Industrial y Desarrollo del Producto, además de los dobles grados en Ingeniería El...
Article
Los andamios son estructuras que proporcionan una plataforma fisicoquímica y biológica adecuada para que las células crezcan, proliferen y se diferencien. Por lo tanto, es uno de los elementos más importantes en la ingeniería de tejidos. Las propiedades del andamio final pueden depender de la técnica de procesado seguida. Entre ellos, la técnica de...
Article
Los materiales superabsorbentes son aquellos materiales capaces de retener al menos 1000 veces su peso en agua (u otras sustancias) sin desintegrarse. Sus aplicaciones son muy variadas, desde productos para la higiene personal (toallitas, pañales) a la horticultura (fuente de agua). Estos materiales pueden elaborarse a partir de muchas materias pri...
Article
En los últimos años se han contemplado distintas alternativas de procesado de fibras poliméricas a escala nanométrica tales como técnicas de hilado mecánico (elongación), prototipado, separación de fases, autoensamblaje unidimensional. Entre estos métodos destaca el proceso de electrohilado, pues conduce de la forma más simple y económicamente efic...
Article
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Nowadays, biodegradable protein‐based matrices capable of storing micronutrients and releasing them in a controlled manner are being studied in order to avoid an excessive use of fertilizers. One of the methods to add micronutrients into matrices is through an immersion stage in a saturated solution, which provides matrices with high superficial co...