Antinutritional Factors (ANFs) are compounds produced by plants as defense mechanisms, and in high concentrations, they inhibit nutritional properties. Reducing these ANFs increases the presence of proteins, antioxidants, and vitamins, which is crucial for optimizing animal feed, particularly in developing countries where traditional methods may be costly. Solid-state fermentation (SSF) has the potential to improve the nutritional quality of animal feed derived from cereals and legumes cultivated and non-commercially cultivated by reducing antinutrients and enhancing nutrient availability. This review also considers the potential of non-native species, including those exhibiting invasive behavior and taxonomic similarity to cultivated varieties, as alternative substrates for SSF. Additionally, SSF highlights the biological properties of ANFs when extracted and utilized for technological and industrial advancements. Solid-state fermentation with lactic acid bacteria could be an effective and straightforward method for reducing these antinutritional factors while simultaneously enriching protein content. The aim is to present solid-state fermentation as a biotechnological tool to reduce antinutritional factors and enhance the nutritional content of legumes and cereals that are not cultivated for animal feed. This perspective contributes to expanding the range of raw materials considered for SSF by including taxonomically related but underutilized and ecologically problematic plant resources.

Furfural is a well-recognized biomass platform. Hydrogenation and reductive amination of furfural are two principal routes in the valorization of this compound. In both reactions, the presence of reducible species (SMSI effect) and acid sites could favor the selectivity toward some interesting products. Both conditions could be obtained using metal particles supported on reducible mixed oxides. In this work, we investigate the use of Pt/Nb₂O₅-Al₂O₃ catalysts for the hydrogenation and reductive amination of furfural at distinct Nb₂O₅ contents. A decaniobate salt was used as a precursor of Nb₂O₅. The solids were reduced at 500 °C to assure the migration of reducible NbO_x species. The solids were characterized by XRD, Raman spectroscopy, HR-TEM, N₂-physisorption, NH₃-TPD and Pyr-DRIFTS. The results showed that higher Nb₂O₅ loadings led to a lower distribution of Al₂O₃ and Pt, favoring the catalysts’ acidity. This fact implies that large particle size and the presence of Nb₂O₅ islands favor the formation of furfuryl alcohol but have a detrimental effect on the amine formation in the reductive amination of furfural.

Different composites based on ZnO/Ag₃PO₄ and ZnO–malachite (Cu₂(OH)₂CO₃) were synthesized in order to determine their effectiveness in the treatment of municipal and industrial wastewaters (mainly polluted by enteropathogenic bacteria, dyes, and heavy metals). The addition of Ag₃PO₄ and malachite did not significantly modify the physicochemical properties of ZnO; however, the optical properties of this oxide were modified as a result of its coupling with the modifiers. The modification of ZnO led to an improvement in its effectiveness in the treatment of municipal and industrial wastewater. In general, the amount of malachite or silver phosphate and the effluent to be treated were the determining factors in the effectiveness of the wastewater treatment. The highest degree of elimination of bacteria from municipal wastewater and discoloration of textile staining wastewater were achieved by using ZnO/Ag₃PO₄ (5%), but an increase in the phosphate content had a detrimental effect on the treatment. Likewise, the highest Fe and Cu photoreduction from coal mining wastewater was observed by using ZnO–malachite (2.5%) and ZnO/Ag₃PO₄ (10%), respectively. Some of the results of this work were presented at the fourth Congreso Colombiano de Procesos Avanzados de Oxidación (4CCPAOx).