Production and purification of xylooligosaccharides from oil palm empty fruit bunch fibre by a non-isothermal process

Oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFB) fibre, a by-product generated from non-woody, tropical perennial oil palm crop was evaluated for xylooligosaccharides (XOS) production. Samples of OPEFB fibre were subjected to non-isothermal autohydrolysis treatment using a temperature range from 150 to 220 °C. The highest XOS concentration, 17.6 g/L which relayed from solubilisation of 63 g/100 g xylan was achieved at 210 °C and there was a minimum amount of xylose and furfural being produced. The chromatographic purification which was undertaken to purify the oligosaccharide-rich liquor resulted in a product with 74–78% purity, of which 83–85% was XOS with degree of polymerisation (DP) between 5 and 40.

Valorisation of side streams from wheat milling and confectionery industries for consolidated production and extraction of microbial lipids

Crude enzymes produced via solid state fermentation (SSF) using wheat milling by-products have been employed for both fermentation media production using flour-rich waste (FRW) streams and lysis of Rhodosporidium toruloides yeast cells. Filter sterilization of crude hydrolysates was more beneficial than heat sterilization regarding yeast growth and microbial oil production. The initial carbon to free amino nitrogen ratio of crude hydrolysates was optimized (80.2 g/g) in fed-batch cultures of R. toruloides leading to a total dry weight of 61.2 g/L with microbial oil content of 61.8 % (w/w). Employing a feeding strategy where the glucose concentration was maintained in the range of 12.2 – 17.6 g/L led to the highest productivity (0.32 g/L∙h). The crude enzymes produced by SSF were utilised for yeast cell treatment leading to simultaneous release of around 80% of total lipids in the broth and production of a hydrolysate suitable as yeast extract replacement.

Effect of impurities in biodiesel-derived waste glycerol on the performance and feasibility of biotechnological processes

The rapid development of biodiesel production technology has led to the generation of tremendous quantities of glycerol wastes, as the main by-product of the process. Stoichiometrically, it has been calculated that for every 100 kg of biodiesel, 10 kg of glycerol are produced. Based on the technology imposed by various biodiesel plants, glycerol wastes may contain numerous kinds of impurities such as methanol, salts, soaps, heavy metals and residual fatty acids. This fact often renders biodiesel-derived glycerol unprofitable for further purification. Therefore, the utilization of crude glycerol though biotechnological means represents a promising alternative for the effective management of this industrial waste. This review summarizes the effect of various impurities-contaminants that are found in biodiesel-derived crude glycerol upon its conversion by microbial strains in biotechnological processes. Insights are given concerning the technologies that are currently applied in biodiesel production, with emphasis to the impurities that are added in the composition of crude glycerol, through each step of the production process. Moreover, extensive discussion is made in relation with the impact of the nature of impurities upon the performances of prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms, during crude glycerol bioconversions into a variety of high added-value metabolic products. Finally, aspects concerning ways of crude glycerol treatment for the removal of inhibitory contaminants as reported in the literature are given and comprehensively discussed

A new regime of carbon counting: the practices and politics of accounting for everyday carbon through C02e

Inspired by the commercial desires of global brands and retailers to access the lucrative green consumer market, carbon is increasingly being counted and made knowable at the mundane sites of everyday production and consumption, from the carbon footprint of a plastic kitchen fork to that of an online bank account. Despite the challenges of counting and making commensurable the global warming impact of a myriad of biophysical and societal activities, this desire to communicate a product or service's carbon footprint has sparked complicated carbon calculative practices and enrolled actors at literally every node of multi-scaled and vastly complex global supply chains. Against this landscape, this paper critically analyzes the counting practices that create the ‘e’ in ‘CO2e’. It is shown that, central to these practices are a series of tools, models and databases which, in building upon previous work (Eden, 2012 and Star and Griesemer, 1989) we conceptualize here as ‘boundary objects’. By enrolling everyday actors from farmers to consumers, these objects abstract and stabilize greenhouse gas emissions from their messy material and social contexts into units of CO2e which can then be translated along a product's supply chain, thereby establishing a new currency of ‘everyday supply chain carbon’. However, in making all greenhouse gas-related practices commensurable and in enrolling and stabilizing the transfer of information between multiple actors these objects oversee a process of simplification reliant upon, and subject to, a multiplicity of approximations, assumptions, errors, discrepancies and/or omissions. Further the outcomes of these tools are subject to the politicized and commercial agendas of the worlds they attempt to link, with each boundary actor inscribing different meanings to a product's carbon footprint in accordance with their specific subjectivities, commercial desires and epistemic framings. It is therefore shown that how a boundary object transforms greenhouse gas emissions into units of CO2e, is the outcome of distinct ideologies regarding ‘what’ a product's carbon footprint is and how it should be made legible. These politicized decisions, in turn, inform specific reduction activities and ultimately advance distinct, specific and increasingly durable transition pathways to a low carbon society.

Geography, skills and careers patterns at the boundary of creativity & innovation: digital technology and creative arts graduates in the UK

In the last decades, research on knowledge economies has taken central stage. Within this broader research field, research on the role of digital technologies and the creative industries has become increasingly important for researchers, academics and policy makers with particular focus on their development, supply-chains and models of production. Furthermore, many have recognised that, despite the important role played by digital technologies and innovation in the development of the creative industries, these dynamics are hard to capture and quantify. Digital technologies are embedded in the production and market structures of the creative industries and are also partially distinct and discernible from it. They also seem to play a key role in innovation of access and delivery of creative content. This chapter tries to assess the role played by digital technologies focusing on a key element of their implementation and application: human capital. Using student micro-data collected by the Higher Education Statistical Agency (HESA) in the United Kingdom, we explore the characteristics and location patterns of graduates who entered the creative industries, specifically comparing graduates in the creative arts and graduates from digital technology subjects. We highlight patterns of geographical specialisation but also how different context are able to better integrate creativity and innovation in their workforce. The chapter deals specifically with understanding whether these skills are uniformly embedded across the creative sector or are concentrated in specific sub-sectors of the creative industries. Furthermore, it explores the role that these graduates play in different sub-sector of the creative economy, their economic rewards and their geographical determinants.

Microcapsules of a Casein Hydrolysate: Production, Characterization, and Application in Protein Bars

The aim of this work was to encapsulate a casein hydrolysate by spray drying using maltodextrins (DE 10 and 20) as wall materials and to evaluate the efficiency of the microencapsulation in attenuating the bitter taste of the hydrolysate using protein bars as the model system. Microcapsules were evaluated for morphology (SEM), particle size, hygroscopicity, solubility, thermal behavior (DSC), and bitter taste with a trained sensory panel by a paired comparison test (nonencapsulated samples vs. encapsulated samples). Bars were prepared with the addition of 3% casein hydrolysate at free or both encapsulated forms, and were then evaluated for their moisture, water activity (a(w)) and for their bitter taste by a ranking test. Microcapsules were of the matrix type, having continuous surfaces with no apparent porosity for both coatings. Both encapsulated casein hydrolysates had similar hygroscopicity, and lower values than free encapsulated hydrolysates. The degree of hydrolysis of the maltodextrin influenced only the particle size and T(g). The sensory panel considered the protein bars produced with both encapsulated materials less bitter (p < 0.05) than those produced with the free casein hydrolysates. Microencapsulation by spray drying with maltodextrin DE 10 and 20 was successful to attenuate the bitter taste and the hygroscopicity of casein hydrolysates.

Production and properties of casein hydrolysate microencapsulated by spray drying with soybean protein isolate

The aim of this work was to encapsulate casein hydrolysate by spray drying with soybean protein isolate (SPI) as wall material to attenuate the bitter taste of that product. Two treatments were prepared: both with 12 g/100 g solids and containing either two proportions of SPI: hydrolysate (70:30 and 80:20), called M1 and M2, respectively. The samples were evaluated for morphological characteristics (SEM), particle size, hygroscopicity, solubility, hydrophobicity, thermal behavior and bitter taste with a trained sensory panel using a paired-comparison test (non-encapsulated samples vs. encapsulated samples). Microcapsules had a continuous wall, many concavities, and no porosity. Treatments M1 and M2 presented average particle sizes of 11.32 and 9.18 mu m, respectively. The wall material and/or the microencapsulation raised the hygroscopicity of the hydrolysate since the free hydrolysate had hygroscopicity of 53 g of water/100 g of solids and M1 and M2 had 106.99 and 102.19 g of water/100 g of solids, respectively. However, the hydrophobicity decreases, the absence of a peak in encapsulated hydrolysates, and the results of the panel sensory test considering the encapsulated samples less bitter (p < 0.05) than the non-encapsulated, showed that spray drying with SPI was an efficient method for microencapsulation and attenuation of the bitter taste of the casein hydrolysate. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cloning and overexpression of the xylose isomerase gene from Burkholderia sacchari and production of polyhydroxybutyrate from xylose

A different organization for the xyl operon was found in different genomes of Burkholderia and Pseudomomas species. Degenerated primers were designed based on Burkholderia genomes and used to amplify the xylose isomerase gene (xylA) from Burkholderia sacchari IPT101 The gene encoded a protein of 329 amino acids, which showed the highest similarity (90%) to the homologous gene of Burkholderia dolosa. It was cloned in the broad host range plasmid pBBR1MCS-2, which partially restored growth and polyhydroxybutyrate production capability in xylose to a B. sacchari xyl(-) mutant. When xylA was overexpressed in the wild-type strain, it was not able to increase growth and polyhydroxybutyrate production, suggesting that XylA activity is not limiting for xylose utilization in B. sacchari.

The stability and aggregation properties of the GTPase domain from human SEPT4

The septins are a family of conserved proteins involved in cytokinesis and cortical organization. An increasing amount of data implicates different septins in diverse pathological conditions including neurodegenerative disorders, neoplasia and infections. Human SEPT4 is a member of this family and its tissue-specific ectopic expression profile in colorectal and urologic cancer makes it a useful diagnostic biomarker. Thermal unfolding of the GTPase domain of SEPT4 (SEPT4-G) revealed an unfolding intermediate which rapidly aggregates into amyloid-like fibers under physiological conditions. In this study, we examined the effects of protein concentration, pH and metals ions on the aggregation process of recombinant SEPT4-G using a series of biophysical techniques, which were also employed to study chemical unfolding and stability. Divalent metal ions caused significant acceleration to the rate of SEPT4-G aggregation. Urea induced unfolding was shown to proceed via the formation of a partially unfolded intermediate state which unfolds further at higher urea concentrations. The intermediate is a compact dimer which is unable to bind GTR At 1 M urea concentration, the intermediate state was plagued by irreversible aggregation at temperatures above 30 degrees C. However, higher urea concentration resulted in a marked decay of the aggregation, indicating that the partially folded structures may be necessary for the formation of these aggregates. The results presented here are consistent with the recently determined crystal structure of human septins and shed light on the aggregation properties of SEPT4 pertinent to its involvement in neurodegenerative disease. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Serum amyloid A induces reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and proliferation of fibroblast

Serum amyloid A (SAA) levels are elevated highly in acute phase response and elevated slightly and persistently in chronic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes. Given that fibroblasts exert profound effects on progression of inflammatory chronic diseases, the aim of this study was to investigate the response of fibroblasts to SAA. A dose-dependent increase in O(2)(-) levels was observed by treatment of fibroblasts with SAA (r = 0.99 and P <= 0.001). In addition, the expression of p47-phox was up-regulated by SAA (P < 0.001) and diphenyliodonium (DPI), a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase inhibitor, reduced the release of O(2)(-) by 50%. Also, SAA raised fibroblast proliferation (P < 0.001) and this effect was completely abolished by the addition of anti-oxidants (P < 0.001). These findings support the notion that, in chronic inflammatory sites, SAA activated fibroblast proliferation and ROS production.

Efficient and low cost devices for solar energy conversion: Efficiency and stability of some natural-dye-sensitized solar cells

Dye-sensitized solar cells, named by us Dye-Cells, are one of the most promising devices for solar energy conversion due to their reduced production cost and low environmental impact, especially those sensitized by natural dyes. The efficiency and stability of devices based on natural sensitizers such as mulberry (Morus alba Lam), blueberry (Vaccinium myrtillus Lam), and jaboticaba`s skin (Mirtus cauliflora Mart) were investigated. Dye-Cells prepared with aqueous mulberry extract presented the highest P(max) value (1.6 mW cm(-2)) with J(sc) = 6.14 mA cm(-2) and V(oc) = 0.49 V, Photoelectrochemical parameters of 16 cm(2) active area devices sensitized by mulberry dye were constant for 14 weeks of continuous evaluation. Moreover, the cell remained stable even after 36 weeks with a fairly good efficiency. Therefore, mulberry dye opens up a perspective of commercial feasibility for inexpensive and environmentally friendly Dye-Cells. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.