Advances in the in vitro digestion and fermentation of polysaccharides

In vitro digestion models are widely used to study the structural changes, digestion and release of food components under simulated gastrointestinal conditions. As compared to the in vivo digestion tests, the in vitro digestion reflects the digestion and utilisation of food after ingestion and has the advantages of being time consuming, inexpensive, reproducible and free from moral and ethical restrictions. This study reviewed the current research studies on the in vitro simulated digestion of polysaccharides conducted in the last 5 years and focused on the oral, gastric and intestinal digestion models, with the aim of providing a basis for the further testing of changes in the content, structure and active ingredients of polysaccharides before and after digestion.     

The impact of supplementing goats' milk with quinoa extract on some properties of yoghurt

This study investigated the impact of supplementing goats' milk with quinoa extracts, in the range of 5, 10 and 15 g/100 g on the milk fermentation. The properties of yoghurt produced from this milk, which include viscosity, microstructure and sensory acceptability, were assessed. The supplementation of goats' milk with quinoa extracts, particularly permeate extract, reduced the fermentation time and enhanced the viability of lactic acid bacteria. Supplementation of yoghurt with increased levels of quinoa extracts increased the apparent viscosity and changed the yoghurt protein matrix. Panellists highly accepted the yoghurt that contained quinoa permeate extract.     

Biohydrogen Production from Organic Waste – A Review

Hydrogen fuel is a promising alternative to fossil fuels because of its energy content, clean nature, and fuel efficiency. However, it is not readily available. Most current producion processes are very energy intensive and emit carbon dioxide. Therefore, this article reviews technological options for hydrogen production that are eco-friendly and generate clean hydrogen fuel. Biological methods, such different fermentation processes and photolysis are discussed together with the required substrates and the process efficiency.     

Impact of bioethanol impurities on steam reforming for hydrogen production: A review

Hydrogen fuel cells (H₂–FCs) are promising devices for pollution-free and efficient power production. Renewable H₂ from biomass is often produced through catalytic ethanol steam reforming (ESR), which requires a steam/ethanol molar ratio of at least three. The bioethanol obtained by biomass fermentation contains large amounts of water and can be directly subjected to ESR without complex purification steps. However, a wide spectrum of impurities is present in such bioethanol samples, thus complicating the ESR process. Acetic acid, fusel alcohols, ethyl acetate, and sulfur components have been reported as important bioethanol impurities, and also as the main precursors of carbon deposits on the ESR catalyst. On the other hand, amines, methanol, and aldehydes, which are minor bioethanol impurities, have been reported to enhance the H₂ production. This review seeks to define alternatives to reduce the above negative impurities and increase the positive ones during biomass pretreatment and fermentation. Additionally, ESR catalysts are reviewed to identify the features that make them more resistant to deactivation. The combination of strategies to control the impurities during biomass pretreatment, fermentation, purification and the development of highly resistant catalysts may allow processes to produce H₂ from biomass with a low carbon footprint, rendering H₂–FCs an environmentally friendly technology for power production.     

Optoelectronic sensor device for monitoring the maceration of red wine: Design issues and validation

Enologists usually rely on spectrophotometers to perform the chromatic characterization of red wines. This work reports an optoelectronic instrument based on absorbance measurements aiming not only at the assessment of the chromatic characteristics of finished red wines, but at the supervision of the gradual maceration of fermenting grape musts as well. Maceration is a chemical process that takes place during the early stages of the fermentation that finally results in red wine. It is through maceration that wine acquires its distinctive chromatic features. Key issues related to the selection of optoelectronic components, the system design and its final validation using diluted wine samples are thoroughly discussed. Resolution figures lie in the range of one thousandth of an absorbance unit. Maceration has been successfully monitored with the proposed instrument using grape must samples extracted during the first three days from two different fermentations.     

Catalytic biohydrogen production from organic waste materials: A literature review and bibliometric analysis

Global population growth and accelerated urbanisation have resulted in massive amounts of fossil fuel use and waste production. Because of its high energy content, pure nature, and fuel quality, hydrogen fuel is a viable option to fossil fuels. Biohydrogen from agricultural waste, in particular, piques concern because it generates hydrogen while still disposing of waste. This review conducted a bibliometric analysis of biohydrogen production from organic waste to trace the research trends and hotspots based on the literature in the Web of Science (WOS) database from 1970 to 2020. The present review article also focuses on highlighting various processes for converting organic waste into hydrogen, raw materials for biohydrogen production, and catalysts that could distil the latest perceptions that could shed light on a route advancing for successful catalyst design. It also seems that some intentions have been paid on studying waste materials such as pure polysaccharides, disaccharides, and monosaccharides. Among all the catalysts used, non-noble and low-cost active metals over reduced graphene oxide (rGO) support can significantly affect the activity of fermentative hydrogen production from organic waste materials. However, researches focusing on developing anaerobic membrane bioreactors for these technologies are still needed.     

Effect of a halophilic aromatic yeast together with Aspergillus oryzae in koji making on the volatile compounds and quality of soy sauce moromi

Koji making is an essential step in the production of high‐quality soy sauce. In this study, we inoculated koji with a halophilic aromatic yeast (Zygosaccharomyces rouxii) and Aspergillus oryzae and investigated the effects on the volatile compounds and quality of soy sauce moromi. Our results suggest that the optimal yeast inoculation was approximately 1.5 × 10⁶ yeast per gram of koji, and excessive yeast greatly decreased A. oryzae enzyme activity. In comparison with the control group, there were no significant changes in the concentrations of amino nitrogen, total titratable acids, total soluble nitrogen and reducing sugar by extending the fermentation time during the first fermentation month, whereas the concentration of glutamate in the yeast‐inoculated sample increased by 46.16% and the arginine concentration decreased by 61.07%. After the second fermentation month, 17, 38 and 38 volatile components were identified by GC–MS in C1, C2 and C5, respectively. Moreover, a large number of volatile components, such as 2‐Methoxy‐4‐vinylphenol, ethyl acetate and 1‐Octen‐3‐ol were found in C2 and C5. And the total contents of volatile compounds in C2 were obviously higher than C5. This work furthers our understanding of the traditional multistrain koji making and provides a new method for enhancing the quality and flavour of soy sauce.     

Charting the evolution of biohydrogen production technology through a patent analysis

This study models the evolution of technologies for hydrogen production from the fermentation of biomass. We used a patent-clustering method to construct a technology network based on the mutual citation relationships between representative technology patents. Subsequently, we established an approximate matrix by analyzing the density of this citation network and identified the core technology cluster. We evaluated 2125 US patents from 2012 related to fermentative hydrogen production from biomass and divided the patents into four clusters according to their main technological areas. The largest cluster featured “the methods and systems that process useful gas by using waste and wastewater as feedstock and by enhancing biological (e.g., aerobic and anaerobic) processes,” indicating that this technology area currently represents the mainstream technology for such hydrogen production.     

Characteristic of polysaccharides from Flammulina velutipes in vitro digestion under salivary,simulated gastric and small intestinal conditions and fermentation by human gut microbiota

In this study, in vitro digestion and fermentation of Flammulina velutipes -derived polysaccharides (FVP) were investigated. It was found that FVP mainly consisted of 48.45% glucose, 15.40% mannose, 14.60% xylose, 11.80% fucose and 9.90% galactose. The -human saliva, simulated gastric and small intestinal juices conditions did not break down the FVP. Based on in vitro fermentation tests, FVP modulated the composition of gut microbiota by elevating the amounts of Bifidobacteriaceae and Bacteroidaceae and reducing the numbers of genera Lachnospiraceae and Enterococcaceae. Meanwhile, FVP affected the synthesis of short-chain fatty acids derived from gut microbiota.