Textile production is a major component of the global industry, with sales of over USD 450 billion and estimations of an 84% increase in their demand in the next 20 years. In recent decades, protective and smart textiles have played important roles in the social economy and attracted widespread popularity thanks to their wide spectrum of applications with properties, such as antimicrobial, water-repellent, UV, chemical, and thermal protection. Towards the sustainable manufacturing of smart textiles, biodegradable, recycled, and bio-based plastics are used as alternative raw materials for fabric and yarn production using a wide variety of techniques. While conventional techniques present several drawbacks, nanofibers produced through electrospinning have superior structural properties. Electrospinning is an innovative method for fiber production based on the use of electrostatic force to create charged threads of polymer solutions. Electrospinning shows great potential since it provides control of the size, porosity, and mechanical resistance of the fibers. This review summarizes the advances in the rapidly evolving field of the production of nanofibers for application in smart and protective textiles using electrospinning and environmentally friendly polymers as raw materials, and provides research directions for optimized smart fibers in the future.

Smart food packaging (SP) is an innovative packaging system that can extend the shelf life of the product and reduce food waste. The objective of the study is the estimation of the environmental and economic sustainability of the overall life cycle of a SP including a chemical sensor able to detect modifications in the concentration of CO₂, which is an indicator of food spoilage, and encapsulated oregano essential oil (OEO), capable of inhibiting the microbial growth. For this purpose, a life cycle assessment (LCA), following the ISO 14040 series and ReCiPe methodology, and an economic evaluation of SP, were performed. The environmental footprint (EF) of SP was compared to that of a conventional packaging (CP) in terms of packaging production, use and end of life (EoL) of both the packaging and the contained food product. The results demonstrated that the production of SP burdened by 67% the impact category of climate change. However, when adapting four use and EoL scenarios, namely the CP generates 30% food waste, whereas SP can generate 5% (optimistic scenario), 10% (realistic) or 20% (conservative) waste, SP proved to be environmentally superior in most impact categories.

Over the last years, the cyanobacteria Spirulina platensis (SP) has attracted special attention, as it possesses remarkable antioxidant activity and high amounts of bioactive compounds, such as phycocyanin, carotenoids and phenolics. Since Spirulina platensis biomass shows extremely high moisture content, dehydration is a crucial treatment step, which ensures the prolonged shelf life of the final product. However, drying affects drastically the qualitative characteristics of heat-sensitive foodstuffs with high nutritional value, such as SP. In this study, four different drying techniques, atmospheric drying (AD), freeze drying (FD), vacuum drying (VD) and accelerated solar drying (ASD), were examined and compared considering crucial parameters, i.e., moisture content reduction, change of structure, colour deterioration, pigment content and antioxidant activity. As shown from the obtained results, vacuum drying achieves faster moisture lowering and higher carotenoid content equal to 0.58 + 0.01 mg (g dry solids)⁻¹. On the other hand, atmospheric drying is efficient in preserving phycocyanin since its content was found equal to 9.65 + 0.19%dry weight, but in general cannot be industrially applied due to the long dehydration time. Finally, accelerated solar dried biomass showed the highest antioxidant activity (31.28 ± 0.90% dry weight) mainly due to the degradation products after heating at high temperatures and stress conditions.

Spray freeze drying (SFD) represents an emerging drying technique designed to produce a wide range of pharmaceuticals, foods, and active components with high quality and enhanced stability due to their unique structural characteristics. This method combines the advantages of the well-established techniques of freeze drying (FD) and spray drying (SD) while overcoming their challenges related to high process temperatures and durations. This is why SFD has experienced steady growth in recent years regarding not only the research interest, which is reflected by the increasing number of literature articles, but most importantly, the expanded market adoption, particularly in the pharmaceutical sector. Despite its potential, the high initial investment costs and complex operational requirements may hinder its growth. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the SFD technology, highlighting its advantages over conventional drying techniques and presenting its latest applications focused on pharmaceuticals. It also offers a thorough examination of the principles and the various parameters influencing the process for a better understanding and optimization of the process according to the needs of the final product. Finally, the current limitations of SFD are discussed, and future directions for addressing the economic and technical barriers are provided so that SFD can be widely industrialized, unlocking its full potential for diverse applications.