1,720,963 research outputs found
Biorefining of seed oil cakes as industrial co-streams for production of innovative bioplastics. A review
No full textBackground: Numerous different seeds are utilized for edible oil extraction and seed by-products following oil extraction, known as seed oil cakes, represent roughly 50% of the original seed weight. Since seed oil cakes are rich in fibers, proteins and secondary metabolites, they are considered as promising candidates to be raw material to be consumed in a biorefinery for the production of high-value added products according to circular economy paradigms. Several studies have been performed on the potential uses of seed oil cakes derived from different plant species. Scope and approach: This review, resulting from a collection of experimental results by databases, as well as by topic and keyword search, summarizes the current use of most seed oil cakes so far utilized, as well as that of additional four seed cakes obtained from plants having an economically significant relevance due to their food, nutraceutical or pharmaceutical properties: sesame (Sesamum indicum L.), hemp (Cannabis sativa), cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) and black cumin (Nigella sativa). Various attempts have been done to convert their protein content into a renewable source for producing biodegradable and edible plastics, potentially attractive mainly for food and agricultural industries, as substitutes of the highly polluting petroleum-based plastics. Key findings and conclusions: Seed oil cakes are generally used as animal feed supplementation, plant fertilizer or soil compost due to their high protein, carbohydrate and nitrogen contents. More recently, novel exploitations of the seed oil cakes are under study, such as the production of biofuels and bioplastics. Therefore, seed oil cakes may represent an attractive feedstock for the development of biorefineries through the edible or not edible oil production
Cardoon seed oil cake proteins as substrate for microbial transglutaminase: Their application as matrix for bio-based packaging to extend the shelf-life of peanuts
No full textIn this study, microbial transglutaminase (mTGase), an enzyme that can alter the biological properties of various proteins by creating isopeptide bonds between glutamine and lysine residues, was tested for the first time on proteins from cardoon oil cakes (CPs). mTGase crosslinked CPs were used as matrix for preparing bio-based materials further evaluated for their technological characteristics, such as mechanical and hydrophilicity behavior, gas barrier and thermal properties, color and opacity. All the performed analyses demonstrated that the microbial enzyme affected the film features by making them more resistant (Young's modulus and tensile strength were 52 MPa and 1.7 MPa for the film manufactured in the absence of enzyme and 98 MPa and 3.3 MPa for the crosslinked film, respectively), less hydrophilic and permeable to gases likely due to the formation of a more compact structure due to isopeptide bonds formed by mTGase as demonstrated by scanning electron microscope analyses. For example, the water vapor permeability of neat films was 8.37 g mm m−2 d−1 kPa−1, whereas that performed by mTGase-crosslinked material was equal to 5.16 g mm m−2 d−1 kPa-1. Bio-disintegration test proved that the materials were able to be decomposed under soil-like conditions. Thermal analyses also showed that the crosslinked materials had a matrix more stable over different temperatures, as a function of enzyme concentrations. Finally, the prepared bioplastics were used as sachets to protect peanuts chosen as an example of a high-oil content snack. The findings revealed that during a 30-day period, peroxidase levels and water content of peanuts packed in sachets manufactured from mTGase-crosslinked CP were lower than those packed in neat film and unpacked, and similar to those packed in LDPE, indicating that the novel bioplastics may be employed as biodegradable materials to prolong the shelf-life of such food goods
Lignin/Carbohydrate Complex Isolated from Posidonia oceanica Sea Balls (Egagropili): Characterization and Antioxidant Reinforcement of Protein-Based Films
Full text linkA lignin fraction (LF) was extracted from the sea balls of Posidonia oceanica (egagropili) and extensively dialyzed and characterized by FT-IR and NMR analyses. LF resulted water soluble and exhibited a brownish-to-black color with the highest absorbance in the range of 250-400 nm, attributed to the chromophore functional groups present in the phenylpropane-based polymer. LF high-performance size exclusion chromatography analysis showed a highly represented (98.77%) species of 34.75 kDa molecular weight with a polydispersity index of 1.10 and an intrinsic viscosity of 0.15. Quantitative analysis of carbohydrates indicated that they represented 28.3% of the dry weight of the untreated egagropili fibers and 72.5% of that of LF. In particular, eight different monosaccharides were detected (fucose, arabinose, rhamnose, galactose, glucose, xylose, glucosamine and glucuronic acid), glucuronic acid (46.6%) and rhamnose (29.6%) being the most present monosaccharides in the LF. Almost all the phenol content of LF (113.85 ± 5.87 mg gallic acid eq/g of extract) was water soluble, whereas around 22% of it consisted of flavonoids and only 10% of the flavonoids consisted of anthocyanins. Therefore, LF isolated from egagropili lignocellulosic material could be defined as a water-soluble lignin/carbohydrate complex (LCC) formed by a phenol polymeric chain covalently bound to hemicellulose fragments. LCC exhibited a remarkable antioxidant activity that remained quite stable during 6 months and could be easily incorporated into a protein-based film and released from the latter overtime. These findings suggest egagropili LCC as a suitable candidate as an antioxidant additive for the reinforcement of packaging of foods with high susceptibility to be deteriorated in aerobic conditions
A biorefinery approach for the conversion of Cynara cardunculus biomass to active films
Full text linkCardoon (Cynara cardunculus), an herbaceous perennial plant able to grow with high productivity in dry and hot regions, as well as in unproductive soils, was used as a biomass source for the production of both bioactive compounds derived from leaves and proteins extracted from seeds. Naviglio® technology was found as an efficient method to obtain a cardoon leaf extract (CLE) characterized by high phenol content and oxygen scavenging activity. On the other hand, cardoon proteins (CPs) were demonstrated to give rise to handleable greenish films endowed with promising mechanical and barrier properties in the presence of glycerol used as plasticizer. Hence, the CLE was used to functionalize the films that were further characterized. Film microstructure observed by SEM revealed a good compatibility among CPs and CLE, showing a uniform distribution of the leaf extract components throughout the film network that reflected, in turn, an improvement in the mechanical and barrier properties of the obtained material. In addition, the CLE containing films exhibited higher hydrophobicity, as indicated by the contact angle measurement and by the evaluation of water solubility and swelling degree experiments. Finally, CLE-containing films showed a marked antioxidant activity, highlighting the potential of Cynara cardunculus to be exploited as a biorefinery where different low-value renewable biomass materials are turned in several higher value bio-based products
Sustainable Exploitation of Posidonia oceanica Sea Balls (Egagropili): A Review
No full text: Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile is the main seagrass plant in the Mediterranean basin that forms huge underwater meadows. Its leaves, when decomposed, are transported to the coasts, where they create huge banquettes that protect the beaches from sea erosion. Its roots and rhizome fragments, instead, aggregate into fibrous sea balls, called egagropili, that are shaped and accumulated by the waves along the shoreline. Their presence on the beach is generally disliked by tourists, and, thus, local communities commonly treat them as waste to remove and discard. Posidonia oceanica egagropili might represent a vegetable lignocellulose biomass to be valorized as a renewable substrate to produce added value molecules in biotechnological processes, as bio-absorbents in environmental decontamination, to prepare new bioplastics and biocomposites, or as insulating and reinforcement materials for construction and building. In this review, the structural characteristics, and the biological role of Posidonia oceanica egagropili are described, as well as their applications in different fields as reported in scientific papers published in recent years
Cellulose from Posidonia oceanica Sea Balls (Egagropili) as Substrate to Enhance Streptomyces roseochromogenes Cellulase Biosynthesis
No full textValorisation of posidonia oceanica sea balls (Egagropili) as a potential source of reinforcement agents in protein-based biocomposites
No full textNanocrystalline cellulose (NC) and a lignin-containing fraction (LF) were obtained from egagropili, the so called sea balls produced from rhizome and stem fragments of Posidonia oceanica that accumulate in large amounts along the coastal beaches in the form of tightly packed and dry materials of various dimensions. Both egagropili fractions have been shown to be able to improve the physicochemical properties of biodegradable films prepared from protein concentrates derived from hemp oilseed cakes. These materials, manufactured with a biodegradable industrial by-product and grafted with equally biodegradable waste-derived additives, exhibited an acceptable resistance with a still high flexibility, as well as they showed an effective barrier activity against water vapor and gases (O2 and CO2). Furthermore, both NC and LF decreased film moisture content, swelling ability and solubility, thus indicating that both additives were able to improve water resistance of the hydrocolloid films. The exploitation of egagropili, actually considered only an undesirable waste to be disposed, as a renewable source of reinforcing agents to blend with different kinds of polymers is suggested
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
- …
