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Date is one of important products that play important role in economy and nutritional health in some tropical regions of the world. Liquid sugar of date is produced by date syrup after extraction of phases, purification, and elimination of pectin compounds, protein, fiber, and color. This liquid has some characterizes such as 73% sugar with Brix 68-74% and it consists of mainly by glucose and fructose with similar ratio to honey hive and corn syrup with high fructose (HFCS) and It's color varies from brown to bright yellow. In this study, bleaching and clarification of keloteh variety date syrup to produce liquid sugar were investigated by response surface methodology (RSM) and face central composite design (FCCD). Three main factors including temperature (30-70°C), pH (4-6), and time (40-120 minute) to determine the optimal condition of maximum activity of these two components (bentonite and gelatin) by constant adding were investigated. Also there are some factors such as color, ash, and absorption was determined. The optimal value of added bentonite and gelatin is determined 1-3 g/L and 0.02-0.08 g/L, respectively, which the desired amount is 3 and 0.05g/L, respectively. In low temperature and pH, the increased action of bentonite and gelatin is observed during passing the time and also high amount of impurities were removed. The lowest amount of these responses for color at 420 nm is (4302 ICUMSA), ash (0.421%) and absorption at 660 nm is 0.059. It is revealed that this technique can diminish the values of syrup color (68.25%), ash (8.7%), and absorption up to 89.46%, by comparing the values in the optimal point of clarified syrup by bentonite and gelatin with traditional method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this research was to prepare of bionanocomposite films based on chitosan (CH) incorporated with Carum copticum essential oil and reinforced with cellulose nanofibers (CNF) or lignocellulose nanofibers (LCNF). The FTIR analysis showed new interactions in bionanocomposites. AFM and SEM analyses showed an increased roughness for bionanocomposites but suggested good dispersion of CNF and LCNF in CH matrix. X-ray diffraction confirmed that the degree of crystallinity was increased by addition of CNF/LCNF. The results suggested that the CH-EO film had high antioxidant activity and was more effective against E. coli and B. cereus bacteria than CH-EOCNF and CH-EO-LCNF films, which shows the release controlling effect of nanofibers. Mechanical properties were improved with addition of EO and CNF/LCNF. Incorporation of EO and CNF/LCNF improved water vapor barrier properties of films. In general, uniform dispersion and improving effect of LCNF on properties of CH-EO films was more than CNF., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)