Argan nut shell represents the most generated by-product during the process of the extraction of argan oil. For the first time, argan nut shell was characterized and assessed as a new potential feedstock for bioethanol production using a combination of mechanical and enzymatic pretreatment. Argan shell samples were first disintegrated using the Star Burst system, which involves a high-pressure water jet system. Then, the pretreated argan nut shell was subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis using Viscozyme L (30 FBGU/g). Afterwards, the fermentation of the hydrolysate by Saccharomyces cerevisiae was investigated. Argan nut shell, as a feedstock plentiful in carbohydrates, conferred a high yield of saccharification (90%) and an optimal ethanol bioconversion (45.25%) using Viscozyme L (30 FBGU/g) at 2%_w/v of argan feedstock.

In this present work, fungal nanochitosans, with very interesting particle size distribution of 22 µm, were efficiently generated in high-yield production using a high-pressure water jet system (Star Burst System, Sugino, Japan) after 10 passes of mechanical treatment under high pressure. The specific characterization of fungal chitosan nanofibers suspensions in water revealed a high viscosity of 1450 mPa.s and an estimated transparency of 43.5% after 10 passes of fibrillation mechanical treatment. The mechanical characterization of fungal nanochitosan (NC) film are very interesting for medical applications with a Young’s modulus (E), a tensile strength (TS), and elongation at break (e%) estimated at 2950 MPa, 50.5 MPa, and 5.5%, respectively. Furthermore, we exhibited that the fungal nanochitosan (NC) film presented very good long-term antioxidant effect (reached 82.4% after 96 h of contact with DPPH radical solution) and very interesting antimicrobial activity when the nanochitosan (NC) fibers are mainly activated as NC-NH₃⁺ form at the surface of the film with 45% reduction and 75% reduction observed for S. aureus (Gram-positive) and E. coli (Gram-negative), respectively, after 6 h of treatment. These promising antimicrobial and antioxidant activities indicated the high potential of valorization toward biomedical applications.