• Energy Research

The artistic production can play a role of reflection and alert to the recovery of waste and end-of-life materials, with the consequent circular economy implementation, minimizing the use of new natural resources. The contest “Reciclar é uma arte” was organized in the framework of a Portugal partnership between Instituto Politécnico do Porto (IPP)/Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP) and Laboratório Associado REQUIMTE-LAQV/GRAQ (Grupo de Reação e Análises Químicas). The main objectives were the dissemination of the concepts of recycling, green chemistry, sustainability and to show to the younger generations that Science can be accessible and fun. All products used by mankind originated from raw materials, which, during their possible transformation, use and consequent disposal will give rise to waste that will be discarded. This paper aims to demonstrate the connection between environmental education and ecological art, and how this association can help students to develop their creativity and critical thinking.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), or risk factors for CVD, such as diabetes, hypertension and hypercholesterolemia, are the leading cause of death worldwide. Therefore, the use of agricultural by-products as a source of functional ingredients, particularly those from crop plants, has received significant interest. For example, the banana (Musa spp.) is a common food crop worldwide and is the primary production on Madeira Island in Portugal. In this work, banana peels and puree were incorporated into sweet food products as butter and sugar substitutes, enhancing the nutritional content. The results show that the final product’s dietary fibre and phenolic content increased, while the lipidic and total sugar content decreased. The obtained results show that banana peels have a great potential to be developed into beneficial functional foods and nutraceuticals.

Acorns are one of the most promising natural resources to be considered nationally and internationally due to their nutritional benefits. Thus, their valorization is an essential factor of sustainability nowadays. Therefore, this project aims to characterize acorns by analyzing their chemical composition and bioactivity toward cardiovascular disease-related enzyme inhibition. Proximate analysis was performed where moisture, ash, lipids, and proteins were determined, and the values obtained in mass percentage on a dry basis were 10.1 ± 0.2, 1.94 ± 0.03, 3.94 ± 0.34 and 3.72 ± 0.07, respectively. The concentration of acorn extract that inhibits 50% of the enzyme α-glucosidase is 5.36 ± 0.66 µg/m, showing their great potential as an anti-diabetic agent, one of the risk factors for cardiovascular diseases; however, no inhibition of the α-amylase was registered.