UTILIZAÇÃO DA SEMENTE DE MORINGA OLEÍFERA E FILTRO BIOLÓGICO COMO MÉTODO ALTERNATIVO PARA A CLARIFICAÇÃO DE ÁGUA BRUTA

Água, um recurso natural essencial à vida, para se adequar ao consumo deve ser pura, livre de quaisquer substâncias. Geralmente, o sulfato de alumínio seja o coagulante químico utilizado nas Estações de Tratamentos para a clarificação da água, produz um lodo tóxico rico em alumínio de difícil deposição no ambiente. Entretanto, coagulantes naturais de origem vegetal como sementes de Moringa oleífera têm demonstrado vantagens em comparação aos químicos, pela simplicidade de uso e baixo custo. O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar a eficiência da semente de Moringa oleífera quando associada ao filtro biológico para clarificação de água bruta. À vista disso, como delineamento experimental, foram realizados dois testes com duas repetições cada, sendo que o primeiro teste buscou avaliar a eficiência do filtro biológico, apenas com a passagem de água bruta, e o segundo procurou avaliar a eficiência da água tratada pelas sementes de Moringa, quando adicionadas ao sistema de filtragem. Para o sistema de filtração, foram utilizados três recipientes e instalados de forma decrescente. O primeiro recipiente foi utilizado como decantador para a adição da água bruta tratada com as sementes, o segundo foi utilizado como filtro biológico obtendo divisões para os meios filtrantes como cascalhos, cerâmicas, carvão ativado e o terceiro recipiente, para o recebimento de água filtrada. As amostras de água bruta foram coletadas na Estação de Tratamento de Água e as sementes colhidas no plantio de própria espécie. Foram realizadas análises comparativas do aspecto físico (turbidez) e químico (pH) da água filtrada, água tratada e filtrada, respectivamente, com a água bruta (controle) de cada teste, de modo que as variáveis foram submetidas à análise de variância (ANOVA) seguida do teste de Tukey (p<0,05), pela qual as diferenças significativas foram apresentadas por gráficos. De acordo com os resultados, o filtro biológico demonstra eficiência ao clarificar apenas a água bruta e quando adicionada a água tratada ao sistema de filtragem, o processo de clarificação se torna mais eficaz, pois reduz a turbidez e não altera o pH. Pode-se concluir que o tratamento da água bruta, por meio do coagulante vegetal e filtro biológico, apresenta-se como um método alternativo para a clarificação, uma vez que seja preciso controlar o período de filtração, comprovando-se que 10 h de filtragem corresponde ao melhor tempo determinado para a redução da turbidez e estabilidade do pH, dado que o aumento desse período prejudica a qualidade da água. USE OF MORINGA OLEIFERA SEED AND BIOLOGICAL FILTER AS AN ALTERNATIVE METHOD FOR RAW WATER CLARIFICATION ABSTRACT Water, a natural resource essential to life, it must be pure for proper consumption, free of any substances. Generally, aluminum sulfate is the chemical coagulant used in Treatment Plants for water clarification, although it produces a toxic sludge that is rich in aluminum and difficult to deposition in the environment. However, natural coagulants of plant origin such as Moringa oleifera seeds have shown advantages over chemicals, due to their simplicity of use and low cost. The objective of this work was to analyze the efficiency of the Moringa oleifera seeds when associated with the biological filter for raw water clarification. In view of this, as an experimental design, two tests were carried out with two repetitions each, the first test sought to evaluate the efficiency of the biological filter, only with the raw water flow, and the second evaluated the efficiency of the water treated by the Moringa seeds, when added to the filtration system. For the filtration system, three containers were used, and they were downwardly installed. The first container was used as a decanter for the addition of raw water treated with seeds, the second was used as a biological filter with divisions for filter media such as gravel, ceramics, activated carbon and the third container was filled with filtered water. The raw water samples were collected at the Water Treatment Station and the seeds were harvested from the planting of the same species. It was performed a comparative analysis of physical (turbidity) and chemical (pH) aspects of filtered water, treated and filtered water, respectively with the raw water (control) of each test, so that the variables were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by the Tukey test (p <0.05), in which the significant differences were represented by graphics. According to the results, the biological filter shows to be efficient in clarifying only raw water and when the treated water is added to the filtration system, the clarifying process becomes more effective, since it reduces turbidity and does not alter the pH. It can be concluded that the treatment of raw water through vegetable coagulant and biological filter is an alternative method for clarification, as it is necessary to control the filtration period, proving that 10 hours of filtration corresponds to the best time determined for the reduction of the turbidity and pH stability, provided that the increase of this period affects the water quality. Descriptors: Moringa Seeds, Biological Filter, Treatment, Comparative Parameters.

An Evaluation of the Clotting Properties of Three Plant Rennets in the Milks of Different Animal Species

Cynara cardunculus, Carica papaya and Ficus carica extracts are proposed as milk coagulants herein. Their coagulation efficiency was measured in bovine, buffalo, goat and sheep milk incubated at different temperatures. The milk-clotting and proteolytic activities as well as the lactodynamographic parameters were determined considering animal rennet as a reference coagulant. The vegetable coagulant, extracted from C. cardunculus pistils, proved to be the most suitable milk-clotting enzyme for cheesemaking, since it possesses similar milk clotting properties to conventional calf rennet. F. carica latex, but seemed to be a promising alternative coagulant at higher temperatures. The strong proteolytic activity of papain caused poor milk coagulation in all milk samples. To conclude, this result also supports the original hypothesis of this study that the excessive proteolytic nature of plant coagulants can negatively affect the cheesemaking process. The optimization of using a plant rennet in a dairy application can be done by selecting the appropriate plant rennet with a consistent clotting efficiency. These innovative manufacturing processes may also lead to the optimization and production of new cheese varieties.

TOFU OBTAINED WITH LEMON COAGULANT AND SOYBEAN CONCENTRATE

Tofu is a cheese of vegetable origin, derived from soybean, obtained by coagulation of the soybean water-soluble extract (SSE). The use of lemon juice as a coagulant makes it completely organic and can be consumed by people in the vegan food group. The objective of this work was to develop and characterize a tofu cheese, using vegetable coagulant (5-15%) and soy protein concentrate - SPC (0-10%) applying experimental design to maximize the yield of tofu. Also were evaluated the characteristics of acidity, moisture, total solids, proteins, syneresis and ashes in the first and seventh days of storage. In the first day of storage, a high percentage of coagulant resulted in an increase in the acidity of the tofu. High moisture contents were observed in high concentrations of coagulant without soy protein concentrate. In the total solids, the high values were verified in low concentration of coagulant and SPC. Protein, syneresis, and ash were high when added low concentrations of coagulant and SPC. The high yield was observed in the experiment with high SPC and low amount of coagulant. On the seventh day of storage, the high concentration of lemon resulted in a significant effect (p

Sensory acceptance and shelf life of fresh cheese made with dry bromelain extract as a coagulating agent

The objective of this research was to evaluate the sensory acceptance and shelf life of a fresh cheese using dry bromelain extract as a coagulating agent. The dry bromelain extract was used in three concentrations (5%, 10% and 15% w / w) and the milk was used craw and pasteurized, for a total of six treatments under study. A sensory analysis was carried out and the useful life (sensorial, physicochemical and microbiological) of the treatment with greater acceptance was determined. The results showed that the cheeses obtained with greater sensory acceptance were those made with 5% w / w of bromelain dry extract regardless of the type of milk used (raw or pasteurized). The useful life of the selected product (T2) at the physicochemical level is 26 days, however sensory and microbiologically the product is of good quality until day 14. Therefore, the use of dry bromelain extract as a vegetable coagulant showed a great potential as a substitute for traditional rennet.

Proteases from Calotropis gigantea stem, leaf and calli as milk coagulant source

Background: Universal demand for cheese keeps the search for appropriate enzymes from plants mimicking animal rennet action in scientific focus. Objective: To associate distribution of milk clotting potential and profile of whole/κ-casein hydrolysis by Calotropis gigantea stem, leaf and respective calli crude enzymes (CE). Materials and methods: Milk clotting activity and index were assayed for CE. Caseinolytic activity (CA) was evaluated spectrophotometrically. 0.5 CA units of CE and Enzeco® were used for studying whole/κ-casein hydrolysis pattern by Tricine SDS-PAGE. Inhibition studies were performed for enzyme characterisation. Results: Traditionally propagated (TP) stem and its callus CE exhibited high specific milk clotting activity (1297.30±0.2 U/mg of protein and 926.74±44.13 U/mg of protein, respectively) and milk clotting index (103.562±1.162 and 79.365±4.93, respectively). Comparison of whole casein hydrolytic pattern by 0.5 CA units of CE revealed closer resemblance between leaf callus and Enzeco®. However, κ-casein specificity analysis revealed TP leaf to be closely mimicking the performance by Enzeco®. Conclusion: Study suggests CE from TP leaf to be a potential vegetable coagulant to work as an effective and low-cost milk clotting mediator in cheese industry.

Influence of vegetable coagulant and ripening time on the lipolytic and sensory profile of cheeses made with raw goat milk from Canary breeds

Free fatty acids and sensory profiles were obtained for cheeses made with raw goat milk and vegetable coagulant, derived from the cardoon flower ( Cynara cardunculus), at different ripening times (7 and 20 days). A solid–liquid phase extraction method followed by solid-phase extraction and gas chromatography was used. Profiles were also obtained with cheeses made with commercial coagulant, traditional kid rennet paste, and mixture coagulant (vegetable coagulant-kid rennet). The use of vegetable coagulant and vegetable coagulant-kid rennet is common in traditional Protected Designation of Origin cheeses such as “ Queso Flor de Guía” and “ Queso Media Flor de Guía” (Spain). Contents of short-chain free fatty acids (7.5–22.5 mmol·kg−1), medium-chain free fatty acids (0.4–3.7 mmol·kg−1), and long-chain free fatty acids (0.2–2.1 mmol·kg−1) varied depending on the coagulant type and the ripening time. Vegetable coagulant cheeses present odour intensity and flavour intensity much higher than commercial coagulant cheeses in the sensory analysis for cheeses obtained with seven days of ripening, but the values decrease when increasing the ripening time. Multivariate analysis allowed us to differentiate cheese samples according to the ripening time when using lipolytic profile and according to the coagulant type using the sensory profile.