Drink mixer made from bananas and pineapple: novel ideas from the country's first PhD in Bioengineering

Researcher and professor Estivinson Córdoba Urrutia, showing the first TPS cord created in the laboratory during his doctoral studies. Credit: Personal file.

On April 12, Estivinson Córdoba Urrutia became the first student of the Inter-institutional Doctoral Program in Bioengineering to defend his thesis. This doctorate is the result of an inter-institutional work between the Universidad del Valle and the Universidad Autónoma de Occidente, and is innovative in its field at national level. His doctoral proposal could change the destination of banana and pineapple waste in different areas of the country. It’s also a way of reducing the impacts on the environment related to the climate crisis.

An example of perseverance and determination

Estivinson Córdoba knew from childhood that education would be his way out. Being a native of the village of Dipurdú de los Indios, in the municipality of Istmina, department of Chocó, he had the example of his mother, with whom he learned to read. "The way is education," he remembers her telling him. Those words marked him. Despite the dangerous alternatives around him, all of them permeated by the harsh realities of paramilitarism, guerrilla movements and drug trafficking, he decided to make a decision that would change his life. He traveled to Quibdó to enroll in the Agroforestry Engineering program at the Universidad Tecnológica del Chocó. His purpose was to study and return to put his knowledge at the service of his community. This became his motivation.

 

He arrived in Quibdó, in the company of one of his brothers, at the age of 16. They lived with another of his sisters for the first semester and then lived alone for the rest of their studies. Estivinson had a hard time adapting to a new city, with its new customs and people who were completely unknown to him. He felt the uncertainty of suddenly leaving the place where he had been all his life.

 

Coming from a family of limited resources soon became a constraint. He had to walk the city from one cardinal point to the other, under the most intense sun, to attend his classes. He even remembers spending three days, from Friday to Monday, without drinking more than glasses of water, an anecdote that he tells to his students at the Universidad Tecnológica del Chocó, where he is now a professor. For him, those days are an example of his decision and commitment to the destiny he had set for himself.

 

The results were not long in coming. Estivinson always assumed his educational commitments with rigor. He graduated as an agroforestry engineer, being the first person to obtain a degree in that career in ten semesters, but soon felt he needed to continue his studies, to get more tools to help his community. He decided to pursue his master's degree, encouraged by a scholarship granted by the Governor's Office of Chocó, to answer the questions which were troubling him. It was during his master's studies when he came up with the idea of doing something transcendental, not only to solve the problems in Dipurdú de los Indios, but also to be useful to the country and, why not, to the world.

 

An invitation was soon to arrive that would give him that opportunity.

 

The invitation to do a PhD in Bioengineering 

Estivinson Córdoba was working on a project in Chocó, when he received a call from Professor and researcher José Herminsul Mina Hernández, from the Faculty of Engineering of the Universidad del Valle, who invited him to be part of the first PhD in Bioengineering in the country. Fearful of being part of such a recent doctorate, Estivinson responded with skepticism. After insisting and weighing the possibilities in terms of economic resources, he finally agreed to apply to the Bicentennial Doctoral Excellence Program. For him it was a sign of destiny to have been selected. "I said: something has to be happening here, let's take it as such. Already with the scholarship, the place in the doctorate, I started," he recalls.

 

The doctorate began in February 2020. A few days later, the COVID-19 pandemic forced him to return to Quibdó to spend the confinement period, which again meant difficulties to overcome. "It was complex, because the connection here has always been bad, in every sense," says Estivinson. Due to this, his classes became more difficult to understand, and he had to watch them more than twice to fully understand what his professors were explaining. 

However, true to his conviction from his undergraduate years, he had the determination to overcome such difficulties and move forward with his research project, the purpose of which was to treat a material that could be used to replace single-use food utensils.

 

Research: development of a hierarchical biocomposite material from banana and pineapple agro-industrial waste for use as a food utensil 

The objective of the research was to convert banana and pineapple waste, previously treated, to create a biodegradable plastic. Choosing these materials helped to give a purpose to the large amounts of waste produced in the industry, while helping to reduce the use of single-use plastics. "Our goal was always to respond to two particular issues: non-biodegradable single-use plastics and harvest waste. We think that if we solve the first one, we can possibly solve the second one," says Estivinson. During his doctoral thesis presentation, he explained that the global research trend is turning around composites, a tangible proof of the importance that such initiatives related to single-use materials are currently having.

 

The study began with the obtaining, adaptation and characterization of the raw materials (starch and fibers). Subsequently, the influence of the incorporation of nanocellulose and banana peel fibers on the physicochemical, thermal and mechanical properties of the thermoplastic fruit pulp starch was evaluated. Finally, the best formulation of the biocomposite material was validated through its application as a food utensil and its biodegradation power.

 

"After much effort, trial and error, we managed to obtain the first TPS (thermoplastic starch) cord.... Surely it was the first TPS cord in the world", said Estivinson Córdoba during his doctoral work presentation, last April 12 at the Universidad del Valle facilities.

 

After considering the wide range of food utensils developed from different conventional plastics, they chose to make beverage mixers based on thermoplastic starch created from banana and pineapple waste. This decision was due to the ease with which such instruments are discarded after use in beverages.

"When you, as of today, see a banana bunch, it is no longer a discarded banana bunch: it can now be a drink mixer," Estivinson said during his presentation.

Drink mixer made from thermoplastic starch based on banana and pineapple waste. Credit: Personal archive.

The first PhD in bioengineering in the country. An opportunity for innovation 

The doctoral program of which Estivinson Córdoba was a member was the result of the joint work of Universidad del Valle and Universidad Autónoma de Occidente, and aims to increase the number of patents in the fields of biotechnology, biomedicine and agroindustry. It is composed of more than 70 professors between both educational and institutions.

 

It works in four lines of research: 1) Biomaterials and regenerative medicine, which seeks to replace tissues that have lost their functions; 2) Biomedical engineering, which is dedicated to the creation of new devices for detection and treatment processes; 3) Agri-food biotechnology - in which Estivinson Córdoba's research work is included - which seeks to improve crops, make them more resistant and optimize natural resources; and 4) Environmental biotechnology, which seeks to reduce damage to the environment derived from people's daily activities.

Researcher and Professor Estivinson Córdoba Urrutia showing academic community his research findings, on April 12. Credit: Édgar Bejarano, Communications Office, Faculty of Engineering.

For Estivinson Córdoba, the fact that this doctoral program brings together the knowledge and infrastructure of two top-level universities is a reason for gratitude, especially for the close relationship he established with his thesis director, Professor José Herminsul Mina Hernández.

 

 "More than a student/director relationship, it was a friend relationship. In addition to the trust he produced in me, I think it greatly benefited my doctoral thesis," he says.

If interested in being in touch with the researcher or any further information about the scientific article published, please write the Faculty of Engineering Communications Office: comunicaingenieria@correounivalle.edu.co.