Evaluation’s Role in Development Projects: Boosting Energy Efficiency in a Traditional Industry in Chad

This chapter illustrates the critical importance of evaluation in development projects. It explores the relevance, processes, and specifics of a project to introduce energy-efficient cook stoves in two traditional industries in Chad. Although Chad benefits from great solar potential given its location and being a Sahelian country, biomass accounted for 94% of the primary energy supply in 2008, and only 2.2% of Chadian households have access to electricity. The beer brewing and meat grilling sectors in particular use enormous quantities of limited and expensive firewood. Locally developed energy-efficient stoves for the two targeted sectors were available, but those technologies had not been commercialized and disseminated into the Chadian market. The project aimed to overcome issues of technology, financing, dissemination, resistance to change, and awareness to introduce and establish use of energy-efficient stoves in micro-scale food processing to achieve environmental and economic benefits, discussing the effectiveness of models introduced and adopted by project beneficiaries with related training. This chapter considers issues related to the project’s financing and sustainability and concludes with lessons provided by the evaluation, including engagement with targeted beneficiaries, awareness of local context, and consideration of size and scale for a demonstration project that can be scaled up in future programs.

The malting parameters: steeping, germination, withering, and kilning temperature and aeration rate as possibilities for styrene mitigation in wheat beer

Aiming at the mitigation of the toxicologically relevant styrene formed during wheat beer brewing, different malting parameters, such as steeping temperature, germination temperature, withering and kilning temperatures applied during kiln-drying, and aeration rate, were evaluated for their suitability to reduce the content of cinnamic acid, the precursor of styrene, in malts of barley and wheat, responsible for the input of the undesired precursor into the brewing process. According to the results of the present study, higher steeping temperatures, higher germination temperatures, lower aeration rates, and lower withering temperatures during malting are beneficial for the overall reduction of cinnamic acid in wort produced with barley and wheat malts. Thereby, the withering temperature showed the highest impact among the investigated parameters, able to reduce the soluble cinnamic acid content in wort by up to 72%, followed by the germination temperature in combination with the aeration rate and the steeping temperature with reduction capacities of 52 and 16%, respectively. Additionally, a kilning temperature of 200 °C led to the absence of enzyme activities in dark malts, which might also be the main reason for the low phenolic acid contents found in the corresponding wort, finally causing the low concentrations of styrene but also to a certain extent of desired vinyl aromatics in dark wheat beers.

Hop (Humulus lupulus L.): Traditional and Present Use, and Future Potential

Hop (Humulus lupulus L.): Traditional and Present Use, and Future Potential. Hop (Humulus lupulus) is best known for its use in beer brewing owing to its bittering flavor and floral aroma. Today, the brewing industry uses as much as 98% of the produced hop crop worldwide. However, there are many other uses, some of them known since prehistoric times. Hops, the cone–like female structures called strobili, are the most frequently used part of the hop plant, but other tissues are of interest as well. The present review compiles existing knowledge of the chemical and pharmacological properties, traditional and present uses and further use potential, genetic resources, and breeding attempts in H. lupulus, and discusses climate change challenges to hop production. It contains hundreds of phytochemicals, and some of the secondary metabolites have definite potential pharmacological and medicinal value, but further investigations are desirable. Hop substances are potential alternatives, e.g., in antimicrobial, cancer, metabolic syndrome, and hormone replacement therapy treatments, as well as insecticides, preservatives, and fragrances. There are presently a few hundred cultivated hop varieties, and new cultivars are being developed and tested. Future hop breeding efforts with different quality and adaptation targets can utilize existing genetic resources, such as wild populations and landraces present in many regions.

Microbial communities in retail draft beers and the biofilms they produce

In the beer brewing industry, microbial spoilage presents a consistent threat that must be monitored and controlled to ensure the palatability of a finished product. Many of the predominant beer spoilage microbes have been identified and characterized, but the mechanisms of contamination and persistence remain an open area of study. Post-production, many beers are distributed as kegs that are attached to draft delivery systems in retail settings where ample opportunities for microbial spoilage are present. As such, restaurants and bars can experience substantial costs and downtime for cleaning when beer draft lines become heavily contaminated. Spoilage monitoring on the retail side of the beer industry is often overlooked, yet this arena may represent one of the largest threats to the profitability of a beer if its flavor profile becomes substantially distorted. In this study, we sampled and cultured microbial communities found in beers dispensed from a retail draft system to identify the contaminating bacteria and yeasts. We also evaluated their capability to establish new biofilms in a controlled setting. Among four tested beer types, we identified over a hundred different contaminant bacteria and nearly twenty wild yeasts. The culturing experiments demonstrated that most of these microbes were viable and capable of joining new biofilm communities. From these data, we provide an important starting point for the efficient monitoring of beer spoilage in draft systems and provide suggestions for cleaning protocol improvements that can benefit the retail community.

Redox and Anti-Inflammatory Properties from Hop Components in Beer-Related to Neuroprotection

Beer is a fermented beverage widely consumed worldwide with high nutritional and biological value due to its bioactive components. It has been described that both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beer have several nutrients derived from their ingredients including vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates, and antioxidants that make beer a potential functional supplement. Some of these compounds possess redox, anti-inflammatory and anticarcinogenic properties making the benefits of moderate beer consumption an attractive way to improve human health. Specifically, the hop cones used for beer brewing provide essential oils, bitter acids and flavonoids that are potent antioxidants and immune response modulators. This review focuses on the redox and anti-inflammatory properties of hop derivatives and summarizes the current knowledge of their neuroprotective effects.

The Application Potential of Hop Sediments from Beer Production for Composting

The chemical composition of hop sediments from beer brewing and fermentation gives them the potential for further use. These wastes are not generated in large amounts, but the absence of proper characteristics may lead to processing errors. This study examines the possibility of using hop waste for aerobic biological transformation processes (composting). The study was carried out on two hop sediments from two different technological stages of beer production: hot trub and spent hops. Chemical, microbiological, and biochemical analyses were performed in the composted hop sediments, as was the assessment of phytotoxicity to Lepidium sativum L. The tested feedstocks were partially inhabited by microorganisms and thus safe from an epidemiological point of view, and they were not a source of microbial contamination. Inhibitory properties for plant development were found for hot trub, which most likely result from the organic compound content. If it is only a small portion of its biomass, the mineral composition of hot trub does not exclude the possibility of its composting. Spent hops were characterized by a significant total nitrogen content, which affected the composting process. Composting this sediment required the selection of substrates with a widely C:N ratio.

Exploring constraints and opportunities for sorghum production in dry regions of Zimbabwe

The objective of the study was to explore the constraints and opportunities for small-holder sorghum farmers in dry regions.Two hundred and fifty farmers were sampled by using the simple random and snowball sampling to provide the information that answered the research questions. Questionnaire and interviews were used as the research instruments. Out of 250 participants, 80% were males and 20% were females showing that more males were selected for the research. Data was coded and processed using excel. Descriptive statistics were used to describe results. Of all the participants, 4% were in the age range of 25-30 years, 10% in the age range of 31-35 years, 14% in the age range of 36-40 years, 16% in the age range of 41-45 years and 56% in the age range of 46 years and above. Out of all the participants, 20% attained primary education while 68% had attained secondary education. Only 12% had tertiary education. Results indicated availability of resources (60%) such as certified seed, fertilizers, herbicides and draught power as the major constraint in the production of sorghum. Lack of technical knowhow (20%) of sorghum production, poor farming methods (9.6%) such as mono-cropping, Striga weed (12%), outbreak of fall armyworm (14.4%) and marketing of produce (8%) were also amongst the major constraints indicated by most participants. 66% of the 250 participants showed that they produce sorghum due to its drought tolerant nature. Beer brewing was just slightly above half (52%) whilst making mealie meal was slightly below half (48%). Lack of knowledge, resources and poor markets hindered sorghum production in dry regions. Farmers were using retained seeds which are populated and affected by diseases and this contributed to low yields. Opportunities such as reducing poverty, food insecurity and income generation drives some farmers to venture into sorghum production.

Conversion of Brewers’ Spent Grain into Proteinaceous Animal Feed using Solid State Fermentation

Brewers’ Spent Grain (BSG) represents the 85% of the total residue produced during the beer brewing process, with a global annual production volume exceeding the 30 Mtons. Study herein concerns the application of solid state fermentation (SSF) process for the efficient transformation of BSG into high nutritional value animal feed. The investigated SSF procedure was initiated by Pleurotus ostreatus, which constitutes a natural source of β-glucans and metabolites (vitamins, nutrients). Thus, it is possible to reduce the environmental impacts caused by BSG production and simultaneously contribute to the tackling of proteinaceous animal feed shortage observed during the last decade. The method developed resulted in a significant increase of protein content by 49.49%, a 10-fold increase of their 1,3 − 1,6 β-glucans content and a respective reduction of cellulose content by 11.42%. The application of this method is expected to provide a solid background for the utilization of BSG as substrate for fungi initiated SSF, a bioprocess allowing the significant reduction of the environmental impact caused by the beer brewing industry and simultaneously produce animal feed with high protein content and nutritional characteristics suitable for fulfilling animals’ nutritional needs and improving their welfare.