MICROBIAL VALORIZATION OF NICOTINE AND TOBACCO WASTE FOR BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS RECOVERY: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Iustin Tiberius Tiberius Munteanu

doi:10.47743/jemb-2026-289

Authors

Iustin Tiberius Tiberius Munteanu BioActive Research Group, University Alexandru Ioan Cuza Iasi, Faculty of Biology - Romania

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47743/jemb-2026-289

Keywords:

nicotine, tobacco waste, microbial valorization, bioactive compounds, circular economy

Abstract

The tobacco industry produces thousands of tons of toxic waste annually, containing nicotine at concentrations ranging from 3% to 6% (w/w). Traditional waste management approaches entail high costs and negative impacts on the environment and human health. Microbial biotechnology may be used for the simultaneous detoxification of nicotine and recovery of bioactive compounds from tobacco waste (TW). The systematic review is based on the guidelines established by PRISMA 2020 and seeks to find data on bacteria-based approaches to TW valorization, structured around the PICO framework. The literature search was conducted between April and June 2026 across Scopus, Web of Science (WoS), PubMed, and Google Scholar, supplemented by reports from World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and Grand View Research. Following duplicate removal and screening of 201 studies, 13 research articles and 7 organizational reports met the inclusion criteria. Of the 13 studies, 7 focused on NDM strains, 4 on nicotine-tolerant non-NDMs, and 2 on co-culture systems. Functional pyridines were the most frequently recovered compounds, with pharmaceutical applications being the predominant target sector. The findings confirm that microbial valorization of TW aligns well with circular economy principles. Nevertheless, some limitations must be acknowledged: the screening process was conducted by a single author, and the considerable heterogeneity of experimental conditions across the included studies precluded a quantitative meta-analysis, making a narrative synthesis the only viable approach. Future research should prioritize scale-up studies and safety validation of the produced compounds.

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