Effects of Enzymatic Liquefaction, Drying Techniques, and Wall Materials on the Physicochemical Properties, Bioactivities, and Morphologies of Zinc-Amaranth (Amaranthus viridis L.) Powders

The demand for vegetable powder has been escalating considerably due to its various health benefits and higher shelf life compared to fresh green leafy vegetables. Thus, much research emphasised manufacturing vegetable powder at a lower operational cost and higher efficiency while preserving the nutritive values of the vegetables. In this study, zinc- (Zn-) amaranth puree was liquefied with three types of cell wall degrading enzymes (i.e., Viscozyme L, Pectinex Ultra SP-L, and Rapidase PAC) with varying concentrations (0–3% v/w) and incubation time (0.5–24 h) at pH 5 and 45°C before the drying process. The results showed that enzymatic liquefaction using 1% (v/w) of Viscozyme L for 3 h was the optimal procedure for the reduction of the viscosity of the puree. The liquefied puree was then microencapsulated through either spray- or freeze-drying with different wall materials, e.g., 10% of maltodextrin (MD) DE 10, resistant maltodextrin (RMD), N-octenyl succinate anhydride (OSA) starches from waxy maize, HI CAP 100 (HICAP), Capsul (CAP), and gum Arabic (GA). The results showed that all freeze-dried powders generally had higher process yield (except for that encapsulated by HICAP), higher moisture content (but similar water activities), higher retention of total Zn-chlorophyll derivatives, lower hygroscopicity with slab-like particles, larger particle size, and lower bulk density than those of spray-dried powders. In contrast, the spray-dried powders exhibited irregular spherical shapes with relatively high encapsulation efficiency and antioxidant activities. Nonetheless, encapsulation using different wall materials and drying methods had no significant effect on the powder’s cohesiveness and flowability.

Optimized detection of lung IL-6 via enzymatic liquefaction of low respiratory tract samples: application for managing ventilated patients

IL-6 immunodetection in respiratory samples is boosted using an enzymatic method for liquefying samples prior to analysis. This increases the predictive power of lung IL-6 as a biomarker of respiratory function.

Petri Net Modelling of the Starch Enzymatic Liquefaction

This paper investigates the use of the Petri Net modelling language for the description and analysis of the enzymatic reactions that are used for the starch liquefaction. The Coloured Petri Net formalism supported by the CPN Tools modelling and simulation environment is used. The pools of substrates and products are represented as the places and the possible reactions as the transition of the net. The concurrent reactions are modelled trough transitions that are enabled at the same time. The occurrence probabilities associated with each of these concurrent transitions are chosen as the model parameters. The analysis of the specific properties of the model is used to fit the model to data from the industrial production process using the enzyme Liquozyme for the starch hydrolysis.