Exhausted woods represent a byproduct of tannin industrial production processes and their possible exploitation as a source of antioxidant compounds has remained virtually unexplored. We herein report the characterization of the antioxidant and other properties of practical interest of exhausted chestnut wood and quebracho wood, together with those of a chestnut wood fiber, produced from steamed exhausted chestnut wood. 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP) assays indicated good antioxidant properties for all the materials investigated, with exhausted chestnut wood, and, even more, chestnut wood fiber exhibiting the highest activity. High efficiency was observed also in the superoxide scavenging assay. An increase of the antioxidant potency was observed for both exhausted woods and chestnut wood fiber following activation by hydrolytic treatment, with an up to three-fold lowering of the EC50 values in the DPPH assay. On the other hand, exhausted quebracho wood was particularly effective as a nitrogen oxides (NOx) scavenger. The three materials proved able to adsorb methylene blue chosen as a model of organic pollutant and to remove highly toxic heavy metal ions like cadmium from aqueous solutions, with increase of the activity following the hydrolytic activation. These results open new perspectives toward the exploitation of exhausted woods as antioxidants, e.g., for active packaging, or as components of filtering membranes for remediation of polluted waters.
Keywords: DPPH assay; FRAP assay; acid hydrolysis; agri-food waste; antioxidant; exhausted wood; heavy metals; methylene blue; nitric oxides; tannins.