Search

Since significant percentage of fruits and vegetables go to waste during processing, investigation of how to improve the valuable products of extraction from the wastes is an undeniably effective way to save the planet. Beetroot (root, peel, and stalk) is a chief source of natural betalain color compounds and phenolic compounds with copious radical scavenging activity. The major emphasis of this work is to optimize process variables which are extraction time (10–60 min), operating temperature (20–50 °C), and aqueous ethanol solvent with the concentration of (25–75%) for effective extraction of valuable compounds such as betalains, total polyphenols, and antioxidant activity from beetroot peel. Spectrophotometric analysis was applied for quantification of those compounds. Amongst which, lowest solvent concentration (25% v/v) together with the highest temperature (50 °C) and extraction time (50 min) brought yielded higher results. The process optimization was carried out using Design Expert (11.0.3) statistical software. Overall, it can be noted that extraction process can be improved by controlling operating time and temperature, avoiding unnecessary overuse of costly solvent.

Consumer concern over artificial food additives has stimulated production of pigments from natural sources. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of process variables on the content of colour compounds (betaxanthin and betacyanin) in beetroot peel juice extracted by conventional method. In this research, the extraction processes were carried out according to the central composite design with different process variables. Quantitative measurements of the basic colour compounds in beetroot extract were performed using spectrophotometer. From our experiment, it was found that the most adequate extraction conditions, which gave the highest yield of colour compounds (952.5 mg l–1 of betaxanthin and 1361 mg l–1 of betacyanin), were extraction time 1 h, operating temperature 20 ºC, and solvent ratio 0.8 w/v. Being a conventional heating method, it is a simple and cost efficient process with relatively high yield.

Recovery of valuable products from organic wastes with conventional extraction method plus modern separation technology is becoming popular in solid waste management. The major attention of this project was to test the efficiencies of two different types of reverse osmosis membranes (RO99 and X20) on juice concentration extracted from peel of beetroot which is "waste". The extractions of beetroot peel were completed using water and ethanol-water (15 v/v%) solvents at 22 °C for 60 minutes. The applied transmembrane pressure, temperature, and recirculation flow rate of membrane separation process were 40 bars, 30 °C, and 400 L/h, respectively. Quantifications of valuable compounds were detected using spectrophotometer. The permeate flux profiles were investigated and lower permeate flux was experienced with RO99 compared to X20 in both methods. Additionally, from the aspect of efficiency, RO99 outstripped X20 membrane on concentration of some compounds such as betalains, and phenolic components. Betaxanthin, betacyanin, antioxidant and TPC contents in final retentates of RO99 membrane concentration were as follow: 292.47±1.93 mg/L, 499.03±1.3 mg/L, 1133.15±25.74 mg/L,1243.96±106.56 mg/L (water solvent) and 337.26±4.31 mg/L, 585.2±5.83 mg/L, 698.55±22.53 mg/L, 1268.87±48.69 mg/L (ethanol-water solvent), respectively. From this experiment, expectation can be made that membrane technology can widen its applications in food and pharmaceutical industries.

Removing hot and cold trub from hopped wort is important, because of yeast viability, beer filtration, quality and fermentation in Membrane Bioreactor. Trub can be removed by several methods, but Crossflow Microfiltration (CFMF) would be an alternative technology. For the filtration a wort was produced. The filtration was performed with the following parameters: temperature (10 ± 1°C), Transmembrane Pressure (0.4 bar), and Crossflow Velocity (0.4 m s⁻¹). Membrane with pore size of 0.2 μm was applied. The fluxes were determined. Particle size distributions and analytical parameters of samples were measured and retentions were calculated. The initial and steady‐state fluxes were 16.75 and 4.89 L m⁻² hr⁻¹. According to the particle size distributions trub can be removed. Changing of the analytical parameters is appropriate, for example, retention of β‐glucan was 40.17% and Free Amino Nitrogen content did not change. CFMF is an alternative method for removing trub, but the optimization is essential. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Crossflow Microfiltration (CFMF) would be an alternative and novel technology for removal of hot trub and cold trub from hopped wort and the two processes can be performed simultaneously with the same CFMF equipment. The main advantages of the CFMF are less solid residues, lower energy consumption, lower water requirements, and microbiologically stable product. Our research has several practical applications as mentioned below. First removing at least some hot trub can decrease the production losses and improve yeast viability, beer filtration performance and the quality of finished beer, and removing at least some cold trub can improve yeast viability and the quality of finished beer. Furthermore, if primary fermentation is performed in Membrane Bioreactor (MBR), wort particles (e.g., cold trub) can cause fouling. Finally, it has been proven that hot trub and cold trub can be completely removed by CFMF and the changing of the analytical parameters is appropriate.

This study was based on the production of an alcoholic beverage from apple using laboratory pervaporation equipment. Hungarian fruit brandy is called palinka, which can be made by pot distiller or multistage distiller made of copper. In case of traditional pot still distillation the final product is gained from two separate distillations. Pervaporation is an energy efficient membrane process for separating liquid mixtures. Application of pervaporation to separate the product of the initial distillation leads to lower energy consumption than using double-distillation process. The aim of our work was to develop an alternative technology for the production of palinka that integrates distillation and pervaporation.

In present century, upgradation of agriculture is received a great attention because they satisfy daily needs in community and sustainable economic growth. Advantageous biological activities, offered by nanomaterials, open a new horizon in agriculture. In the context of agriculture, a great revolution is development and use of agrochemicals, such as nanofertilizer and nanopesticide. Activities of nanomaterials depend on (a) size, (b) shape, (c) morphology, (d) surface porosity, (e) composition, (f) redox potential, (g) charge in surface and (h) particle aggregation. Nanofertilizers are (a) better water soluble in soil, and easily available for seed and plants, (b) faster absorbed and assimilated by germinating seed and plant, (c) controlled delivery system for fertilizers and (d) with low fertilizer wastage due to leaching, degradation by biochemical reactions (hydrolysis, photolysis and decomposition) and gas forming. Nanofertilizers promote (a) seed germination, (b) plant growth, (c) chlorophyll formation, (d) photosynthesis rate and (e) stimulate the rhizosphere/soil microflora in agricultural field. Nanopesticides are (a) better soluble in water compare to conventional hydrophobic pesticides, (b) highly bioavailable and efficient to carry pesticides, (c) controlled delivery system for pesticides and (d) with low wastage due to degradation by ultra violet light, air, moisture, high temperature, biochemical reactions and rain fastness. Nanopesticides offer (a) antibacterial, (b) antifungal and (c) antiviral activities, and protect seeds and plants. In this chapter, information about development of nanofertilizers and nanopesticides, the mechanisms of biochemical activities and their applications in agriculture are represented in comprehensive way. It is expected that this chapter will grab lots of attentions from many research communities with different backgrounds.

Our experiments were based on a model solution containing five of the main pineapple aroma components. Both sweeping-gas pervaporation and vacuum-pervaporation methods were carried out. Measurements were performed at different temperatures and feed flow rates. The purposes of this study were to examine applicability of the two pervaporation methods in reference to the pineapple aroma recovery, the effects of the operating parameters on the process, and modelling the pervaporation process by resistance-in-series model. Higher enrichment could be reached with vacuum-pervaporation than the sweeping-gas method. The separation process is determined by the diffusion of compounds in the membrane, thus the resistance in the boundary layer at liquid side is negligible. Based on performed experiments, the pervaporation process can be applied in beverage industry for aroma recovery.

One of the most important enriching materials at the processing of alimentary pastes is the egg, which usage is limited because of its water content. Removing water from liquid whole egg with membrane processes, such as ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) was applied for raising the solid content at a temperature of 25 °C at constant flow rate. The separation procedures were carried out on laboratory scale equipments. The initial solid content of the liquid whole egg was 24 refractive (Ref%). The effects of different recirculation flow rates and transmembrane pressure differences were investigated on the permeate flux of the liquid egg. The product had up to 30, 35.5 and 36 Ref% solids in case of UF, NF and RO, respectively. From the resistance data it is obvious, that the polarization layer resistances (RP) determine the values of the permeate flux. The total solid content of permeate was 0.3 and 0.1 Ref% in case of nanofiltration and reverse osmosis, respectively. On the b...

This paper concerns the removal of acetone from air by absorption in water in a packed column and recovery of acetone from water by pervaporation from its dilute aqueous solution. The measurements were carried out in a laboratory scale absorption column and a laboratory scale pervaporation unit. The absorption with Sulzer-packing was a suitable process for the removal of acetone vapours: a satisfactory removal efficiency was achieved. Using a CMG OM-10 pervaporation membrane from Celfa high fluxes and separation factors were obtained for the removal of acetone from water. Models were formulated to determine the most effective operating parameters which minimize the costs. According to the experiments and calculations the proposed absorption–pervaporation system can be technically feasible and economically attractive method for vapour absorption and recovery.

Crude vegetable oils mainly contain triacyl-glycerols but also various minor substances suchas phospholipids (PLs), free fatty acids (FFAs),waxes and colouring pigments. These sub-stances may affect the quality of the refined oiland are removed from the crude oil by severalsteps of refining. The conventional method toremove PLs (e.g. lecithin) is called degumming.Generally, this process consumes large amountof energy and additives as well. Membranefiltration primarily is a size-exclusion-basedpressure-driven process and often mentioned as apossible alternative method for water-degummingin the literature. Zhang et al. [1] with polyimidemembranes, Subramanian [6] with flat-sheet sili-con active layer membranes experiencedPL retention of 93–96% when filtrated crudesoybean and rapeseed oils. They concentratedthe soybean oil micelles to volume concentra-tion ratio of 10. PLs could be rejected above90%. Alicieo et al. [2] clarified crude soybeanoil through a ceramic tubular membrane (poresize 0.01mm) and a polysulphone hollow fibermembrane (MWCO 100 kDa) in a cross-flowapparatus. They demonstrated that ceramicmembrane showed higher rejection of phospho-rous. Hafidi et al. [3] tested sunflower, soyaand rapeseed oil-refining by a cellulose microfil-tration membrane. At 25°C, the PL retentionreached 84–98%, whereas it was only of 46–78%at 60°C. Moura et al. [4] studied degumming ofsoybean oil using UF membrane prepared frompolyethersulphone (MWCO 101.9 kDa). Theremoval of up to 89% of PLs was reached. Dry (non-solvent) membrane degummingwas studied in this paper with several ceramictube membranes. To achie ve satisfying PL sepa-ration in non-solvent environment with UFmembrane requires relatively small (6 kDa orsmaller) MWCO. Koris and Vatai [5] reachedPL retention of 70–77% by flat sheet UF mem-brane (MWCO 15 kDa). Because of its highviscosity the vegetable oil permeates throughthe membrane with slow velocity. Thus low-ratepermeate flux seems to be the main disadvan-tage of this novel degumming method.

Dynamic liquid hold-up was measured with an air/aqueous sodium citrate buffer solution at 20–40 °C, and an air/water system at 23 °C, in a 0.1 m diameter/1 m high glass column covered by a heat-isolating vacuum jacket and packed with 0.012 m nominal size ceramic Raschig rings. The superficial gas velocity range was extended to 1.2 m s−1. Experimental results of this work were compared with literature data, with different correlations and with a general equation. All expressions were found to be unacceptable for the air/buffer system and useable for the air/water system. In the case of the air/buffer solution a new correlation is recommended on the basis of our measured data and literature values.

The promotion of efficiency and the reduction of energy consumption are very important tasks in every industrial process as well in food production. Although membrane filtration is a low-energy and environmental friendly separation method it still needs improvement in many fields. In our earlier research it was stated that a static mixer combined with ceramic tube membrane results higher permeate flux and lower specific energy consumption in case separation of oily wastewater. This paper deals with the extension of this combined method to the separation of milk whey. It was found that static turbulence promotion inside a tube membrane during ultrafiltration of whey can increase permeate flux and decrease energy consumption, inside a given spectra of operating parameters, compared to the conventional mode (when no static mixing applied in the process).

The aim of our study was to examine applicability of pervaporation in reference to the apple aroma recovery and the effects of the operating parameters on the process. Based on performed experiments the pervaporation, as membrane process, may be capable to reduce the loss of aroma compounds in the beverages production, due to its low operating temperature and high aroma recovery efficiency so organoleptic characteristics of the products would satisfy the growing consumer expectations as well. The studied main aroma compounds were i-amyl-alcohol, ethanol, butanol, i-butanol, ethyl-acetate, which could be separated with high selectivity. The values of activation energy of investigated compounds follow their order of polarity that requires further investigation. The data were analysed statistically, which showed negligible effects of flow-rate and initial concentration on the process.