Bark characterization of a commercial Eucalyptus urophylla hybrid clone in view of its potential use as a biorefinery raw material

Phosphate ore slurry is a suspension of insoluble particles of phosphate rock, the primary raw material for fertilizer and phosphoric acid, in a continuous phase of water. This suspension has a non-Newtonian flow behavior and exhibits yield stress as the shear rate tends toward zero. The suspended particles in the present study were assumed to be noncolloidal. Various grades and phosphate ore concentrations were chosen for this rheological investigation. We created some experimental protocols to determine the main characteristics of these complex fluids and established relevant rheological models with a view to simulate the numerical flow in a cylindrical pipeline. Rheograms of these slurries were obtained using a rotational rheometer and were accurately modeled with commonly used yield-pseudoplastic models. The results show that the concentration of solids in a solid–liquid mixture could be increased while maintaining a desired apparent viscosity. Finally, the design equations for the laminar pipe flow of yield pseudoplastics were investigated to highlight the role of rheological studies in this context.

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A Methodology Based on FT-IR Data Combined with Random Forest Model to Generate Spectralprints for the Characterization of High-Quality Vinegars

Foods ◽

10.3390/foods10061411 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (6) ◽

pp. 1411

Author(s):

José Luis P. Calle ◽

Marta Ferreiro-González ◽

Ana Ruiz-Rodríguez ◽

Gerardo F. Barbero ◽

José Á. Álvarez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Random Forest ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Principal Component ◽

Hierarchical Cluster ◽

Raw Material ◽

Support Vector ◽

Protected Designation Of Origin ◽

Ft Ir

Sherry wine vinegar is a Spanish gourmet product under Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). Before a vinegar can be labeled as Sherry vinegar, the product must meet certain requirements as established by its PDO, which, in this case, means that it has been produced following the traditional solera and criadera ageing system. The quality of the vinegar is determined by many factors such as the raw material, the acetification process or the aging system. For this reason, mainly producers, but also consumers, would benefit from the employment of effective analytical tools that allow precisely determining the origin and quality of vinegar. In the present study, a total of 48 Sherry vinegar samples manufactured from three different starting wines (Palomino Fino, Moscatel, and Pedro Ximénez wine) were analyzed by Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The spectroscopic data were combined with unsupervised exploratory techniques such as hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA), as well as other nonparametric supervised techniques, namely, support vector machine (SVM) and random forest (RF), for the characterization of the samples. The HCA and PCA results present a clear grouping trend of the vinegar samples according to their raw materials. SVM in combination with leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) successfully classified 100% of the samples, according to the type of wine used for their production. The RF method allowed selecting the most important variables to develop the characteristic fingerprint (“spectralprint”) of the vinegar samples according to their starting wine. Furthermore, the RF model reached 100% accuracy for both LOOCV and out-of-bag (OOB) sets.

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Incidence and characterisation of Bacillus cereus bacteriophages from Thua Nao, a Thai fermented soybean product

BioMolecular Concepts ◽

10.1515/bmc-2021-0009 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 85-93

Author(s):

Wallapat Phongtang ◽

Ekachai Chukeatirote

Keyword(s):

Bacillus Cereus ◽

Food Industry ◽

Pathogenic Bacteria ◽

Morphological Analysis ◽

Food Poisoning ◽

Fermented Soybean ◽

Foodborne Pathogenic Bacteria ◽

Ph Range ◽

Potential Use

Abstract Bacillus cereus is considered to be an important food poisoning agent causing diarrhea and vomiting. In this study, the occurrence of B. cereus bacteriophages in Thai fermented soybean products (Thua Nao) was studied using five B. cereus sensu lato indicator strains (four B. cereus strains and one B. thuringiensis strain). In a total of 26 Thua Nao samples, there were only two bacteriophages namely BaceFT01 and BaceCM02 exhibiting lytic activity against B. cereus. Morphological analysis revealed that these two bacteriophages belonged to the Myoviridae. Both phages were specific to B. cereus and not able to lyse other tested bacteria including B. licheniformis and B. subtilis. The two phages were able to survive in a pH range between 5 and 12. However, both phages were inactive either by treatment of 50°C for 2 h or exposure of UV for 2 h. It should be noted that both phages were chloroform-insensitive, however. This is the first report describing the presence of bacteriophages in Thua Nao products. The characterization of these two phages is expected to be useful in the food industry for an alternative strategy including the potential use of the phages as a biocontrol candidate against foodborne pathogenic bacteria.

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Design, growth, and characterization of Y2Mo4O15 crystals for Raman laser applications

RSC Advances ◽

10.1039/d0ra08609f ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 1164-1171

Author(s):

Xiangmei Wang ◽

Zeliang Gao ◽

Chunyan Wang ◽

Xiaojie Guo ◽

Youxuan Sun ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Crystal Structure ◽

Physical Properties ◽

Raman Laser ◽

Laser Applications ◽

Potential Use

This work reports the crystal structure and physical properties of the Y2Mo4O15 crystal and its potential use in the Raman laser.

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In vitro cytotoxicity of Aspilia pluriseta Schweinf. extract fractions

BMC Research Notes ◽

10.1186/s13104-021-05472-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Sospeter N. Njeru ◽

Jackson M. Muema

Keyword(s):

Biological Activities ◽

Vero Cells ◽

In Vitro Cytotoxicity ◽

Root Extract ◽

Lack Of Information ◽

Information Gap ◽

Diphenyltetrazolium Bromide ◽

Potential Use

Abstract Objectives We and others have shown that Aspilia pluriseta is associated with various biological activities. However, there is a lack of information on its cytotoxicity. This has created an information gap about the safety of A. pluriseta extracts. As an extension to our recent publication on the antimicrobial activity and the phytochemical characterization of A. pluriseta root extracts, here we report on cytotoxicity of tested solvent fractions. We evaluated the potential cytotoxicity of these root extract fractions on Vero cell lines by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Results We show that all solvent extract fractions (except methanolic solvent fractions) had cytotoxic concentration values that killed 50% of the Vero cells (CC50) greater than 20 µg/mL and selectivity index (SI) greater than 1.0. Taken together, we demonstrate that, A. pluriseta extract fractions’ earlier reported bioactivities are within the acceptable cytotoxicity and selective index limits. This finding scientifically validates the potential use of A. pluriseta in the discovery of safe therapeutics agents.

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Characterization and A Preliminary Study of TiO2 Synthesis from Lampung Iron Sand

Key Engineering Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/kem.849.113 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 849 ◽

pp. 113-118

Author(s):

Yayat Iman Supriyatna ◽

Slamet Sumardi ◽

Widi Astuti ◽

Athessia N. Nainggolan ◽

Ajeng W. Ismail ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Food Packaging ◽

Xrd Analysis ◽

Major Elements ◽

Raw Material ◽

Solid Residue ◽

X Ray Diffraction ◽

X Ray ◽

Leaching Solution ◽

Ti Content

The purpose of this study is to characterize Lampung iron sand and to conduct preliminary experiments on the TiO2 synthesis which can be used for the manufacturing of functional food packaging. The iron sand from South Lampung Regency, Lampung Province that will be utilized as raw material. The experiment was initiated by sieving the iron sand on 80, 100, 150, 200 and 325 mesh sieves. Analysis using X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) to determine the element content and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) to observe the mineralization of the iron sand was conducted. The experiment was carried out through the stages of leaching, precipitation, and calcination. Roasting was applied firstly by putting the iron sand into the muffle furnace for 5 hours at a temperature of 700°C. Followed by leaching using HCl for 48 hours and heated at 105°C with a stirring speed of 300 rpm. The leaching solution was filtered with filtrate and solid residue as products. The solid residue was then leached using 10% H2O2 solution. The leached filtrate was heated at 105°C for 40 minutes resulting TiO2 precipitates (powder). Further, the powder was calcined and characterized. Characterization of raw material using XRF shows the major elements of Fe, Ti, Mg, Si, Al and Ca. The highest Ti content is found in mesh 200 with 9.6%, while iron content is about 80.7%. While from the XRD analysis, it shows five mineral types namely magnetite (Fe3O4), Rhodonite (Mn, Fe, Mg, Ca) SiO3, Quart (SiO2), Ilmenite (FeOTiO2) and Rutile (TiO2). The preliminary experiment showed that the Ti content in the synthesized TiO2 powder is 21.2%. The purity of TiO2 is low due to the presence of Fe metal which is dissolved during leaching, so that prior to precipitation purification is needed to remove impurities such as iron and other metals.

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Characterization of hemicelluloses from leaves and tops of the CC 8475, CC 8592, and V 7151 varieties of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L

DYNA ◽

10.15446/dyna.v86n210.75757 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 86 (210) ◽

pp. 98-107

Author(s):

Luz Marina Flórez Pardo ◽

Andrea González Córdoba ◽

Jorge Enrique López Galán

Keyword(s):

Nmr Spectroscopy ◽

Saccharum Officinarum ◽

Sodium Chlorite ◽

Bioethanol Production ◽

Valle Del Cauca ◽

Main Components ◽

Holocellulose Content ◽

Potential Use

In this research, the types of hemicellulose that predominate in the leaves and tops of the three most cultivated varieties (CC 8475, CC 8592, V 7151) of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) in Valle del Cauca, Colombia were determined. Hemicellulose analyses were performed after delignification with sodium chlorite and extraction with 18% NaOH and 24% KOH containing 0.26 M NaBH4. The main components of hemicellulose were identified via FTIR and NMR spectroscopy, and monomeric sugars were identified via HPLC. Hemicellulose A composed of arabinoxylans, glucomannans and arabinogalactactans and hemicellulose B primarily composed of arabinoxylans were extracted. The hemicelluloses of the Colombian varieties were more stable against heat than those of the Venezuelan variety. The results of this project allowed discovery of the potential use of agricultural sugarcane residues for bioethanol production because they have a holocellulose content of more than 60%.

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Preliminary Preparation and Characterization Studies of Cellulose from Merbau (Intsia bijuga)

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.620.314 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 620 ◽

pp. 314-319

Author(s):

Nur Amira Mamat Razali ◽

Fauziah Abdul Aziz ◽

Saadah Abdul Rahman

Keyword(s):

Electron Microscopy ◽

Scanning Electron Microscopy ◽

Alkaline Treatment ◽

Raw Material ◽

X Ray Diffraction ◽

X Ray ◽

Preliminary Preparation ◽

Characterization Studies ◽

Scanning Electron

Hardwood is wood from angiosperm trees. The characteristic of hardwood include flowers, endosperm within seeds and the production of fruits that contain the seeds. This paper aims to discuss the preparation and characterization of cellulose obtained from hardwood. The hardwood Merbau (Intsia bijuga) was chosen as raw material in this study. Alkaline treatment and delignification methods were used for the preparation of cellulose. Acid hydrolysis was employed to produce cellulose nanocrystal (CNC). The treated and untreated samples were characterized using x-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The final product, from both trated and untreated samples were then compared.

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