The efficient and selective detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) provides key information for various purposes ranging from the toxicological analysis of indoor/outdoor environments to the diagnosis of diseases or to the investigation of biological processes. In the last decade, different sensors and biosensors providing reliable, rapid, and economic responses in the detection of VOCs have been successfully conceived and applied in numerous practical cases; however, the global necessity of a sustainable development, has driven the design of devices for the detection of VOCs to greener methods. In this review, the most recent and innovative VOC sensors and biosensors with sustainable features are presented. The sensors are grouped into three of the main industrial sectors of daily life, including environmental analysis, highly important for toxicity issues, food packaging tools, especially aimed at avoiding the spoilage of meat and fish, and the diagnosis of diseases, crucial for the early detection of relevant pathological conditions such as cancer and diabetes. The research outcomes presented in the review underly the necessity of preparing sensors with higher efficiency, lower detection limits, improved selectivity, and enhanced sustainable characteristics to fully address the sustainable manufacturing of VOC sensors and biosensors.

Films containing bay leaves essential oils (BEOs) were prepared and evaluated for edible packaging applications. The BEOs were extracted by the Soxhlet method, using ethanol or methanol as organic solvent. Then, films were prepared by “solvent casting” technique using carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), with different concentrations for the as-obtained BEOs (from 1% to 30% wt.). The resulting films were characterized to evaluate their physical (thickness, moisture content, water solubility and water vapor permeability), optical (transparency and UV-light barrier), mechanical (tensile strength and elongation at break), antioxidant and antimicrobiological properties Attractive films were obtained for food active packaging applications, as they presented a high antioxidant activity (up to 99%) and total phenolic content, and good barrier properties against water vapor (50% improved of CMC) in the case of CMC-film containing 15% wt. ethanolic extract. Related to optical properties, UV-light barrier effect was increased (almost 100% of protection) avoiding typical lipids oxidation in food systems. High water solubility (93%) was also found, ensuring also their biodegradability. Moreover, it was demonstrated that developed films inhibit microorganisms’ growth (Escherichia coli and Candida glabrata), this avoiding an early food oxidation.

In the present work, an abundant and unused residue (wheat straw) has been employed to synthesize a polyol as a substituent of castor oil in polyurethane foams. The liquefied product showed excellent properties for the proposed application. Castor oil was substituted with up to 50% wheat straw polyol in the formulation of polyurethane foams, which were prepared using two different isocyanates (methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) and toluene-2,4-diisocyanate (TDI)). The evaluation of physical, mechanical, and thermal properties of the foams revealed that these materials can successfully be formed with up to 40% wheat straw polyols since all the results were improved. Moreover, at this polyol concentration, the morphology of the foams was presented as a compact and ordered structure. Following this trend, the foams showed excellent biodegradability at 30 days (5.60 and 7.31% for TDI and MDI foams, respectively) and 60 days (8.49 and 9.88% for TDI and MDI foams, respectively) in the soil media tests carried out. Thus, the materials prepared in this work can be proposed for agricultural applications such as use in plant nurseries.

As a transition strategy towards sustainability, food packaging plays a crucial role in the current era. This, carried out in a biorefinery context of agricultural residues, involves not only obtaining desirable products but a comprehensive utilization of biomass that contributes to the circular bioeconomy. The present work proposes the preparation of bioactive absorbent food pads through a multi-product biorefinery approach from bay tree pruning waste (BTPW). In a first step, chitosan aerogels reinforced with lignocellulose and cellulose micro/nanofibers from BTPW were prepared, studying the effect of residual lignin on the material’s properties. The presence of micro/nanofibers improved the mechanical performance (up to 60%) in addition to increasing the water uptake (42%) when lignin was present. The second step was to make them bioactive by incorporating bay leaf extract. The residual lignin in the micro/nanofibers was decisive, since when present, the release profiles of the extract were faster, reaching an antioxidant power of more than 85% after only 30 min. Finally, these bioactive aerogels were used as absorbent pads for fresh meat. With the use of the bioactive aerogels (with ≥2% extract), the meat remained fresh for 10 days as a result of delayed oxidation of the food during storage (20% metmyoglobin proportion).

The search for packaging alternatives that reduce the presence of non-biodegradable plastics in water is a focus of much research today. This fact, together with the increasing demand for active packaging capable of prolonging the shelf life of foodstuffs and the rise in the use of natural biopolymers such as cellulose, motivate the present work. This work evaluates CMC films loaded with gallic acid reinforced with (ligno)cellulose nanofibres from various agricultural residues as candidates for use in active food packaging. The first stage of the study involved the evaluation of different nanofibres as the reinforcing agent in CMC films. Increasing proportions of nanofibres (1, 3, 5 and 10% w/w) from horticultural residues (H) and nanofibres from vine shoots (V), containing residual lignin (LCNF) and without it (CNF), and obtained by mechanical (M) or chemical (T) pretreatment, were studied. The results of this first stage showed that the optimum reinforcement effect was obtained with 3% H-MCNF or 3% V-MCNF, where up to 391% and 286% improvement in tensile strength was achieved, respectively. These films offered slightly improved UV-light blocking ability (40–55% UV-barrier) and water vapor permeability (20–30% improvement) over CMC. Next, bioactive films were prepared by incorporating 5 and 10% wt of gallic acid (GA) over the optimised formulations. It was found that the joint addition of cellulose nanofibres and GA enhanced all functional properties of the films. Mechanical properties improved to 70%, WVP to 50% and UV light blocking ability to 70% due to the synergistic effect of nanofibres and GA. Finally, the bioactive films exhibited potent antioxidant activity, 60–70% in the DPPH assay and >99% in the ABTS assay and high antimicrobial capacity against S. aureus.