Characterization of Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Southern Brazil

Six olive oils extracted from the cultivars Arbequina, Arbosana, Coratina, Frantoio, Koroneiki, and Picual from 2017 and 2018 harvests, cultivated in Pinheiro Machado, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, are evaluated for standard oil composition parameters and bioactive constituents (pigments, tocopherols, and phenolic compounds). Multivariate principal component analysis (PCA) and univariate ANOVA and Fisher's LSD test are used to verify the effect of cultivar and harvest year on oil composition. Olive oil composition met extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) standard parameters and is influenced by both cultivar and harvest year. EVOO produced in 2018 has greater chlorophyll, caffeic acid, ligstroside aglycone, hydroxyoleuropein aglycone, syringic acid, and hydroxytyrosol acetate contents than the EVOOs from 2017. Linoleic acid, ferulic acid, ligstroside aglycone, and hydroxytyrosol acetate are the variables whose contents most contributed to the differentiation of oils by cultivar in both harvest years. Chemical characterization analyses allow for the differentiation of oil composition based on harvest year and cultivar. Metabolic quality data obtained here support the establishment of a local EVOO profile and the compounds that most contributed to treatment differentiation may serve as markers that can be utilized in determining origin, cultivar, and harvest year. Practical Applications: Olive production in Brazil is recent and is based on European cultivars which have not been bred for the local environmental conditions. Therefore, the measurement of olive oil metabolic quality will determine cultivar adaptability to local edaphoclimatic conditions as well as assist in the establishment of a standard of identity for the product and promote the development of its market. Olive oil produced in Southern Brazil shows high quality, and is especially rich in phenolic compounds. Although harvest year influences oil composition, oil from both harvests meet EVOO standards and cultivar specific metabolic markers are observed. This study provides the foundation for olive producers in Southern Brazil to seek authentication of the geographical origin of olive oil.     

An Improved NER Methodology to the Portuguese Language

Mobile Networks and Applications - The text mining process typically involves the application of natural language processing (NLP) techniques, in order to obtain important information and extract...     

Use of Booster Sheds to Improve Performance of 800 kV Multicone Type Insulators Under Heavy Rain

Studies based on AC high voltage tests have been done at Cepel to investigate the performance of 800 kV bushar insulators under heavy wetting conditions. Insulators were tested which are now used on si...     

Partial Characterization of Ultrafiltrated Soy Protein Hydrolysates with Antioxidant and Free Radical Scavenging Activities

Soy protein isolate (SPI) was hydrolyzed with Flavourzyme® (SHF) or chymotrypsin (SHC). Hydrolysates were sequencially fractionated by ultrafiltration using different membrane pore sizes (50, 10, and 3 kDa). The antioxidant ability of each hydrolysate protein fraction was tested in a liposome oxidizing system and their free radical scavenging activity (FRSA) was evaluated with the DPPH method (diphenylpicrilhydrazine radical). Molecular weight (MW) distribution, solubility, surface hydrophobicity, and amino acid composition of each SPI hydrolysate fraction were measured and their effect on antioxidant and scavenging activities was established by multivariate correlation. The most active ultrafiltrated peptide fractions (P < 0.05), from SHF and SHC, had of MW of <3 kDa (F3 and C3, respectively). These fractions decreased liposome oxidation by 83.2% and 84.5%, respectively, and also showed the highest FRSA (F3: 21.3% and C3: 24.4%). In addition to molecular size, the antioxidant activity and FRSA of soy protein fractions were related to their amino acid composition, especially to an increased content of Phe and a lowered content of Lys. Also, hydrophobicity of ultrafiltrated peptide fractions was an important characteristic (P < 0.001) associated with their ability to trap free radicals. Ultrafiltered peptide fractions with low MW have a high potential to be used as natural alternatives to prevent lipid oxidation in foods.     

Solar-Powered Adsorption Icemaker With Double-Stage Mass Recovery Cycle

The performance of an adsorption icemaker prototype operating in a double-stage mass recovery cycle was experimentally investigated under the generation temperature of 75°C. The prototype was heated in the regeneration phase by an electric heater, and an analytical model was employed to assess the daily number of cycles and the ice production, if evacuated tube solar collectors were used to supply the regeneration heat. It was found that the parasitic heat consumed by the metallic part of the reactor greatly reduced the coefficient of performance (COP) and ice production per unit area of solar collector. A reduction of the parasitic heat by 60% would increase the COP in 54%, and the daily ice production per unit area of solar collector in 50 to 54%, depending on the insolation. The performance of the studied prototype was inferior to the performance of some prototypes presented in the literature, which were directly heated by solar energy and used methanol as refrigerant, but this type of prototype could be an alternative to avoid subatmospheric working pressures and to provide ice on rainy and low insolation days, if waste heat or another heat source is available.     

Enhancing oil–solid and oil–water separation in heavy oil recovery by CO2-responsive surfactants

Interfacial properties are of critical importance to various separation applications. In heavy oil recovery, for example, a low oil–water interfacial tension (IFT) benefits the separation of heavy oil from their host rocks, which becomes problematic in the later stage of oil–water separation. CO₂-responsive surfactants were investigated to enhance the overall heavy oil recovery by switching their interfacial activity to the desired state in each stage. The surfactants at interfacially active state greatly enhanced the separation of heavy oil from hosting solids, as demonstrated by measuring contact angle and oil liberation using a custom-designed on-line visualization system. Meanwhile, the resulting heavy oil-in-water emulsions could also be easily demulsified by the bubbling of CO₂ gas, which switched off the interfacial activity of the surfactants. Furthermore, CO₂-responsive surfactants could be partially recycled in process water to improve sustainability, making CO₂-responsive surfactants to be promising chemical aids in heavy oil production and many other vital industries.     

Melt processing of nanocomposites of cellulose nanocrystals with biobased thermoplastic polyurethane

Nanocomposites of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) with cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) without and with surface treatment are obtained by melt processing. Nanocomposites are obtained with nanofiller weight content near of the theoretical percolation threshold (3.9 wt%). Visual observation of CNC agglomerates is sufficient to prove the inefficiency of the mixing in systems with untreated CNC. The crystallization kinetics of the TPU changes with the addition of CNC and this is confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry analysis. Thermogravimetric analysis prove that the addition of CNC increases the thermal stability of the TPU. From the rheological analysis it is possible to verify the absence of percolation and an intermediate state of sol–gel transition in the nanocomposites. CNC/TPU nanocomposites with 5 wt% of treated CNC present better mechanical performance than de neat TPU and the other processed nanocomposites and display around 130% increase in Young's modulus while retaining significant values of toughness, tensile strength and elongation at break.