Robin Zuluaga

• Agroindustrial Engineering, PhD
• Senior Researcher at Pontifical Bolivarian University

The agroindustry generates substantial quantities of byproducts, particularly in coffee production, which yields significant waste, most notably spent coffee grounds (SCGs). This study explores the potential of SCGs as a versatile resource for applications in both food and nonfood sectors. A comprehensive chemical analysis revealed that SCGs consis...

The objective of this research was to assess the potential of a Pickering emulsion based on lycopene extracted from guava by sunflower oil-water and cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) isolated from banana residues as a novel ingredient for a French-style salad dressing. The aim was to determine the impact of this emulsion on the stability and rheological...

This study explores the use of cellulose nanofiber (CNF)-stabilized Pickering emulsions for paper coatings, focusing on their rheological properties and effects on hydrophilicity and water vapor transmission rate (WVTR). Two types of Pickering emulsions, oil-in-water (O/W), were stabilized with 1 wt% CNF extracted from fique by-products. The oily p...

Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) plants are native to Southeast Asia and are part of the Zingiberaceae family. Global consumption and production of this plant are expanding. In countries such as Colombia, turmeric is a promising cultivar. Curcuminoids derived from its rhizomes are used in food, pharmaceuticals, and natural cosmetics. Curcuminoids consti...

There is a growing interest in developing new strategies to completely or partially replace cocoa butter in food and cosmetic products due to its cost and health effects. One of these alternatives is to develop stable emulsions of cocoa butter in water. However, incorporating cocoa butter is challenging as it solidifies and forms crystals, destabil...

Cellulose nanofibrils from the banana rachis are a good alternative as packaging materials, food packaging, stabilizing agents, and functional food ingredients. To address the potential effects of ingested banana rachis cellulose nanofibrils (BR-CNFs), their toxicity in vitro and in vivo was evaluated using Caco-2 intestinal cells and mice, respect...

This work aims to isolate and characterize crystalline cellulose nanofibers from a tropical bamboo named guadua angustifolia. A nanofiber extraction methodology was developed that includes: i) a thermomechanical pretreatment by steam explosion, ii) an acid hydrolysis phase, and iii) a disintegration phase using a supermasscolloid grinder. The nanof...

Unsaturated polyester resin (UPR) is one of the first commercialized polymer matrices for composites reinforced with glass fibers, but has remained popular to this day. To reduce their environmental impact, natural fibers have been used as reinforcements. Researchers all over the world are still interested in these composites, and numerous papers h...

La valorización de los residuos agroindustriales es una alternativa para mejorar su disposición y reducir su impacto ambiental. Dentro de las opciones más habituales se encuentran el aislamiento de componentes activos, proceso que suele requerir el uso de solventes orgánicos. La mecanoquímica se ha convertido en una opción novedosa para producir nu...

There is growing interest in developing strategies to replace cocoa butter partially or fully in food and cosmetic products, because of its cost and its health effects. One of these alternatives is the development of cocoa butter in water stable emulsions, but incorporating cocoa butter into emulsions is challenging because it solidifies and form c...

La investigación científica contribuye a la generación de nuevos productos, procesos y servicios para satisfacer los requerimientos de los clientes en todos los sectores productivos, y para esto se hace necesario identificar y esclarecer si existe un concepto unificado de “calidad científica”, y cuáles son las posturas de los diferentes autores en...

Cellulose crystallinity can be described according to the crystal size and the crystallinity index (CI). In this research, using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) methods, we studied the crystallinity of three different types of cellulose: banana rachis (BR), commercial cellulose (CS), and bacterial cellulos...

Each day, an increasing number of objects for several industries, including automobile, aerospace, biomedical, construction, and even electronics industry, are manufactured using bast fiber-based composites. Composite manufacturing depends on the matrix and reinforcement configuration. Many techniques can be used, and the selection depends on the f...

A comparative study was conducted on the efficiency of mercury removal using bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) membranes obtained from the fermentation of the microorganism Komagataeibacter medellinensis, in contrast with its oxidized analog obtained by modifying the bacterial nanocellulose membranes via oxidation with 2,2,6,6-Tetramethylpiperidine-1-o...

A comparative study was conducted on the efficiency of mercury removal using bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) membranes obtained from the fermentation of the microorganism Komagataeibacter medellinensis, in contrast with its oxidized analog obtained by modifying the bacterial nanocellulose membranes via oxidation with 2,2,6,6-Tetramethylpiperidine-1-o...

According to the regulations of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), organic solvents should be limited in pharmaceutical and food products due to their inherent toxicity. For this reason, this short paper proposes different mechanical treatments to extract lycopene without organic solvents to produce an edible sunflower oil (SFO)...

Color is an important characteristic of food products. This characteristic is related to consumer acceptability. To use the entire rhizome of Curcuma longa (CL) as a food colorant, a novel gel alike stable suspension (CLS) was previously developed using cellulose nanofibers (CNFs). Therefore, the present study was conducted to evaluate the CLS as a...

Emulsion stabilization is a broad and relevant field with applications in oil, polymer and food industries. In recent years, the use of solid particles to stabilize emulsions or Pickering emulsions have been studied for their kinetic and physical properties. Nanomaterials derived from natural sources are an interesting alternative for this applicat...

The chemical structure of lycopene has been associated with significant health benefits as an antioxidant, resulting in promising applications as a food additive. However, lycopene is susceptible to chemical changes, such as isomerization and decomposition, when exposed to light and high temperatures. Therefore, lycopene stability during its isolat...

Scales of Prochilodus magdalenae, a Colombian endemic fish species, were used to obtain chitosan for application as an antibacterial agent integrated into starch-based films. Analysis of its composition during the demineralization and deproteinization process indicated that minerals and protein were both removed successfully. At this point, mild co...

Curcuma longa (CL) rhizome is used for the extraction of curcumin; however, this compound represents only approximately 3% w/w of the dried rhizome. To use the entire rhizome as a food colorant, the development of CL suspensions has been identified. However, since vegetable suspensions are unstable, the present investigation evaluates the influence...

Background Machine Learning (ML) has experienced an increasing use given the possibilities to expand the scientific knowledge of different disciplines, such as nanotechnology. This has allowed the creation of Cheminformatic models, capable of predicting biological activity and physicochemical characteristics of new components with high success rate...

Cocoa shell (CS) is a by-product of the chocolate industry with limited economic benefit and a high environmental impact. In this study, a new material for the food industry that consists of nanocellulose fibers with CS fat was successfully isolated (yield of approximately 7.12%). The material was characterized with attenuated total reflection–Four...

The broad range of applications of cellulose (CNFs) nanofibers derived from plant sources has promoted different strategies for their production and commercialization. Nevertheless, issues concerning its transportation have prompted different projects to achieve a redispersible and dehydrated product in order to allow a cost-effective and safe tran...

The vibration that occurs in vehicles during road transport has an important effect on the damage experienced by agricultural products, such as fruit. Young’s modulus and Poisson’s coefficient are critical mechanical properties of fruit, and alterations may indicate damage during transportation. This work studied the effect of vibration on mechanic...

Currently, cellulose nanostructures are among the most promising structures, and extensive work in materials and biotechnology industries is aimed at identifying an efficient process of production. Even when production at the laboratory scale is successful, crucial aspects of increased commercial applications for cellulose nanostructures are linked...

Urban gardening is growing as an increasingly therapeutic, social, mental, environmental, and economical alternative to improve the quality of life. One of the options to enhance this activity is the use of mulches. There are several reports on the use of cellulose-based mulches in rural areas. This work is the first successful study on the use of...

Nanoparticles (NPs), decorated with coating agents (polymers, gels, proteins, etc.), form Nanoparticle Drug Delivery Systems (DDNS) of high interest in Nanotechnology and Biomaterials science. There is an increasing publication of...

Nanosystems are gaining momentum in pharmaceutical sciences because of the wide variety of possibilities for designing these systems to have specific functions. Specifically, studies of new cancer cotherapy drug-vitamin release nanosystems (DVRNs) including anticancer compounds and vitamins or vitamin derivatives have revealed encouraging results....

Edible coatings and films are appealing strategies for the postharvest management of blueberries. In the current work, alginate and alginate/cellulose nanofibril (CNF) edible coatings crosslinked with calcium chloride were developed for application on Andean blueberry (a promissory wild blueberry). Cocoa by-products were valorized through the isola...

In this study, the effect of bioreactor size was evaluated with respect to the production and characteristics of the nanocellulose membranes produced by two different bioreactors: one with an 1800 cm² cross-sectional area (BC-B44) and a lab-scale bioreactor with a 41 cm² cross-sectional area (BC-B1). The culture conditions were kept the same, and t...

Determining the biological activity of vitamin derivatives is needed given that organic synthesis of analogs of vitamins is an active field of interest for medicinal chemistry, pharmaceuticals, and food additives. Accordingly, scientists from different disciplines perform preclinical assays (n ij ) with a considerable combination of assay condition...

The need to have an express regulation covering nanotechnology has been the subject of debate in the scientific literature and identified as one of the main subsets of nanotechnology field research. However, most countries still do not have regulatory framework in order to guarantee consumer safety. This is the case of Costa Rica, one of the most p...

Recent advances in materials science and nanotechnology together with ecological awareness have increased interest in the development of green products. The biomedical industry is not an exemption and lignocellulosic biomaterials have become of great interest, given their inherent biocompatibility. Concurrently, they are part of bio-systems and off...

Curcuma longa is a rhizome used for the extraction of curcumin, a yellow colorant that only represents 3 wt% of the dried rhizome. To increase the possibility of using the entire rhizome as a food colorant, in the present investigation, the effect of ultra‐fine friction grinding (supermasscolloider) to obtain turmeric suspensions was evaluated. To...

Aims: Given the current gaps of scientific knowledge and the need of efficient application of food law, this paper makes an analysis of principles of European food law for the appropriateness of applying biological activity Machine Learning prediction models to guarantee public safety. Background: Cheminformatic methods are able to design and cr...

Nano-systems for cancer co-therapy including vitamins or vitamins derivatives have showed adequate results to continue with further researches to better understand them. However, the number of different combinations of drugs,...

Bio-based additives are currently of special interest in the construction industry. The use of biopolymers increases every year owing to the industry's goal to provide non-toxic and emission-free construction products. Therefore, the addition of bio-based nanofibers to cement paste was studied. The bio-based nanofibers were isolated from fique fibe...

Desde finales del siglo XX tanto a nivel científico como tecnológico se vienen analizando múltiples tipos de estructuras derivadas de plantas que puedan ser empleadas como reforzantes o aditivos para mejorar el desempeño mecánico, eléctrico, térmico, magnético, o químico de múltiples tipos productosque pueden ser empleados en campos tan diversos co...

New trends in food are emerging in response to consumer awareness of the relationship between food and health, which has triggered the need to generate new alternatives that meet the expectations of the market. Revolutionary fields such as nanotechnology have been used for the encapsulation of nutritional ingredients and have great potential for th...

The aim of this paper is to conduct an analysis of the application of the specific rules of nanotechnology incorporated in Regulation No. 1223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on cosmetic products. It has been ten years since the European Commission had issued its proposal to start the co-decision procedure to...

This study reports the effect of two different drying temperatures, 40 °C and 105 °C, on the glucose and fructose concentration in water-soluble materials of cornhusk, which were used to synthetize two different silver nanoparticles, AgNpCH40 and AgNpCH105 respectively. The compositional changes in the cornhusk extracts were investigated by means o...

Collagen is the most abundant fibrous protein in animal's body and is widely used for biomedical and pharmaceutical applications. The principal sources of this protein are bovine, porcine and fish skin and bones. In Colombia, bovine bones are waste from meat industry, this material have potential as an alternative source of collagen isolation. The...

Improving the storage of minimally processed mangoes represents a substantial challenge for packaging. For this purpose, thermoplastic starch (TPS) and its composites with bacterial cellulose nanoribbons (TPS/BC) were used as wrapping materials to prolong the shelf life of minimally processed mangoes. Commercial polyvinyl chloride stretch (PVC*) fi...

Despite the efforts focused on manufacturing biological engineering scaffolds for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, a biomaterial that meets the necessary characteristics for these applications has not been developed to date. Bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) is an outstanding biomaterial for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine; ho...

Recent advances in materials science and nanotechnology together with ecological awareness have increased the interest in the development of green products. The biomedical industry has not taken an exemption from this current trend. Nanocellulose is a green material that can be obtained from natural sources such as plants, bacteria, algae or animal...

Fique fibers, native to Colombia, are traditionally used for ropes and bags. In the extraction of long fibers for these purposes, the same amount of short fibers is generated; the short fibers are then discarded in the soil or in landfills. This agro-industrial waste is cellulose-rich and can be potentially developed into new biobased products. As...

The cell density yield of Komagataeibacter medellinensis NBRC 3288 was optimized applying response surface methodology (RSM) for the first time with this strain. Four factors were evaluated: glucose, initial pH, MgSO 4 and KH 2 PO 4 , these were analyzed in a fractional factorial design to verify which were important to cell density yield. The best...

Cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) were incorporated into low-fat and standard ice cream formulations (5 wt % and 10 wt %) at two different concentrations each (0.15 and 0.3 wt %) to determine the impact of the CNFs on the structural elements and performance variables of both the pre-frozen mix and the final frozen product. Rheological properties of the...

Bacterial cellulose (BC) was produced by Komagataeibacter medellinensis using Hestrin and Schramm modified medium in the presence of alternative energy sources (AES), such as ethanol and acetic acid, to explore the effect of AES on the characteristics and properties of the resulting BC. In this study, the physicochemical and structural characterist...

Abstract Strawberry (Fragaria ananassa), blackberry (Rubus glaucus), Peruvian cherry (Physalis peruviana L.) and purple passion fruit (Passiflora edulis Sims) are important fruit crops in Colombia, due to their organoleptic properties and nutritional qualities, making them attractive for international markets. This study was undertaken to character...

La fresa (Fragaria ananassa), la mora (Rubus glaucus), la uchuva (Physalis peruviana L.) y la gulupa (Passiflora edulis Sims) son cultivos frutales importantes en Colombia por sus propiedades organolépticas y nutritivas. Este estudio se realizó para caracterizar las propiedades fisicoquímicas de estos cuatro frutos y presentar una alternativa para...

Bacterial cellulose (BC), which is a hemicellulose- and lignin-free type of cellulose with unique properties, was produced by Komagataeibacter medellinensis, a new acid-resistant bacterial strain, using not suitable human consumption and sub-valorized food supply chain waste (FSCW) and agricultural by-products, namely, rotten banana, rotten mango a...

Commercialization of cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) involves addressing various challenges. Among them, wet storage and transport of CNFs due to their irreversible agglomeration when dehydrated (i.e., hornification) is a pressing issue, as it increases transportation costs. Various alternatives have been proposed in literature, some of which require...

The vinyl ester resins and natural composites have emerged as a suitable alternative in tribological application due to mechanical behavior, which relates to the conversion of the double bonds. During tribological test the permanent contact between polymeric sample and counterpart can increase the temperature affecting the crosslinking of the sampl...

The irreversible aggregation of cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) during their dehydration or hornification, increases their commercialization costs, restricting their storage and transportation to cellulosic suspensions. This issue has prompted the development of different alternatives in literature; some of them require energy intensive treatments for...

We investigated wound dressing composites comprising fibrils of bacterial cellulose (BC) grown by fermentation in the presence of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) followed by physical crosslinking. The reference biointerface, neat BC, favoured adhesion of fibroblasts owing to size exclusion effects. Furthermore, it resisted migration across the biomaterial....

This chapter studies the impacts, benefits and challenges of the use of nanocellulose as a bio-based food packaging material. Nanocellulose obtained from plants or vegetable sources can be used to produce films, aerogels/foams and nanocomposites with barrier, mechanical and optical properties which are useful for the development of new materials fo...

Dentro de la gran cantidad de sustancias naturales que han sido de un valor significativo a lo largo de todo el desarrollo científico – tecnológico de la humanidad se destaca sin lugar a dudas la celulosa, considerada como uno de los polímeros naturales de mayor abundancia en la naturaleza, y que puede ser obtenida desde las más variadas fuentes en...

RESUMEN Dentro de la gran cantidad de sustancias naturales que han sido de un valor significativo a lo largo de todo el desarrollo científico – tecnológico de la humanidad se destaca sin lugar a dudas la celulosa, considerada como uno de los polímeros naturales de mayor abundancia en la naturaleza, y que puede ser obtenida desde las más variadas fu...

Cellulose nanostructures obtained from bacterial sources can be a valuable nanomaterial for biomedical and food applications. In this work the alternatives of cellulose nanoribbons produced by a Colombian-isolated species called Komagataeibacter medellinensis (Gluconacetobacter medellinensis) as potential additive for developed composites are explo...

Los materiales poliméricos han tenido una imagen desfavorable, ya que son asociados con contaminación. Sin embargo, estos son de gran importancia para la biomedicina. Los polímeros son materiales muy versátiles, se pueden obtener de múltiples configuraciones químicas y mezclas para generar materiales compuestos con propiedades sinérgicas. En esta i...

t: Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a polymer obtained by fermentation with microorganism of different genera. Recently, new producer species have been discovered, which require identification of the most important variables affecting cellulose production. In this work, the influence of different carbon sources in BC production by a novel low pH-resista...

This research assessed the effect of 60Co irradiation and polymer concentration on the wettability of coating-forming solutions (CFS) of chitosan as function of the surface properties of red tilapia (Oreochromis spp.), showing the utility of wettability in the optimization of the CFS formulation. The wettability of red tilapia skin, a low energy su...

Iron (Fe) deficiency has been recognized as a public health problem due to its health and economic implications. In developing countries like Colombia this deficiency still affects a large part of its population, especially children and pregnant women. Hence the importance of developing strategies such as food fortification with iron to improve the...

The deconstruction of the hierarchical structure of cellulose results in the production of cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs). CNFs are commonly obtained by grinding and high-pressure homogenization processes and both treatments can be simultaneously used. Nevertheless, the influence of a two-stage high pressure homogenization of previously ground CNFs o...

Environmental concerns inherent to the manufacture and disposal of synthetic polymers have generated a strong interest toward renewable polymers. Among these materials, nanocellulose is one of the most studied options due to its mechanical, thermal and biodegradability properties. It is usually isolated from wood. However, the use of non-woody lign...

In recent years the environmental degradation generated by the production and disposal of traditional polymers has prompted environmental concerns leading to the development of sustainable alternatives to their use. These alternatives include natural polymers, for instance, chitosan, starch, collagen and cellulose. Among these components cellulose...

Bacterial cellulose (BC) grown from a culture medium in the presence of water-soluble poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) produced an assemblage that was used as precursor for the synthesis of biocompatible nanocomposites. Physical crosslinking via cyclic freezing and thawing of the formed hydrogel facilitated retention of PVA matrix upon composite separatio...

A novel method to synthesize highly crosslinked bacterial cellulose (BC) is reported. The glyoxalization is started in-situ, in the culture medium during biosynthesis of cellulose by Gluconacetobacter medellensis bacteria. Strong crosslinked networks were formed in the contact areas between extruded cellulose ribbons by reaction with the glyoxal pr...

Antecedentes: la deficiencia de hierro, es reconocida a nivel mundial como uno de los principales problemas de salud pública asociados a la nutrición. En Colombia es necesario mejorar las estrategias nutricionales encaminadas a la población infantil, con el fin de incrementar su calidad de vida. Objetivo: desarrollar un refresco a partir de la mezc...

This study assessed the effect of molecular weight (MW) reduction by gamma irradiation on the antioxidant capacity of chitosan with potential application in the preservation of foodstuffs. Two batches of chitosan were obtained by heterogeneous chemical N-deacetylation of chitin from common lobster (Panulirus argus). Irradiation of chitosan was perf...

Introducción. Las tendencias muestran que son especialmente los países industrializados los que han destinado mayor esfuerzo en el fomento de la nanotecnología, en la I+D y las patentes concedidas. Sin embargo, para países caracterizados por su rezago tecnológico como Colombia, esta puede representar una oportunidad para incorporarse a esta revoluc...

Toquilla straw (Carludovica palmata) obtained from the Manabí province in Ecuador has been used traditionally for weaving the Panama hat. Due to its importance and high disposability as a renewable source and the methodological characterization which is required to understand it's physical and chemical properties. To this end, sections of treated a...

An important physical parameter used to characterize the adhesive properties of the coating formulation is the surface free energy (SFE), which is a key parameter of the wetting capacity of a food surface. The objective of this work was to determine the effects of the concentrations of gelatin (0.6–2 g/100 mL), glycerol (10–20 g/100 g) and nanofibe...

In this paper, a nanocomposite based on thermoplastic starch (TPS) reinforced with bacterial cellulose (BC) nanoribbons was synthesized by in situ fermentation and chemical crosslinking. BC nanoribbons were produced by a Colombian native strain of Gluconacetobacter medellinensis; the nanocomposite was plasticized with glycerol and crosslinked with...

Introduction. The trends demonstrate that industrialized countries have been the ones that have dedicated a bigger effort to boost nanotechnology, according to R+D reports and to the patents granted. Nonetheless, countries with outdated technology, such as Colombia, have an opportunity to be a part of this technological revolution in order to incre...

A bacterial strain isolated from the fermentation of Colombian homemade vinegar, Gluconacetobacter medellensis, was investigated as a new source of bacterial cellulose (BC). The BC produced from sub-strate media consisting of various carbon sources at different pH and incubation times was quantified. Hestrin–Schramm (HS) medium modified with glucos...

Chitosan films reinforced with bacterial cellulose (BC) nanoribbons were studied to understand the influence of acid (acetic and lactic acids) on the reinforcing effect. For both acids, the maximum concentration of the reinforcing constituent was 5 wt% with respect to the dry weight of chitosan. The infrared spectra, mechanical properties, morpholo...

En esta investigación se desarrollaron biomateriales de PVA, CB y nanocompuestos PVA/CB mediante fermentación in situ utilizando una bacteria productora de celulosa Gluconacetobacter medellinensis. Los biomateriales fueron caracterizados mediante microscopía electrónica debarrido (SEM), pruebas de hinchamiento y proliferación celular in-vitro utili...

Rheological and physical properties of edible coating formulations containing gelatin, cellulose nanofibers (CNFs), and glycerol are characterized. Measured properties are analyzed in order to optimize edible coating thickness. Results show that coating formulations density increases linearly with gelatin concentration in presence of CNFs. Surface...