Properties of spray-dried food flavours microencapsulated with two-layered membranes: Roles of interfacial interactions and water

Engineering the interface of oil-in-water emulsion droplets with biopolymers that modify its permeability could provide a novel technique to improve flavour retention in dry powders. The objective of this study was to determine if volatile compounds were more retained in dry emulsions stabilized by pea protein isolate (PPI)/pectin complex than that stabilized by PPI alone. The retention of ethyl esters during spray-drying increased with decreasing volatility of the encapsulated compound and ranged from 28% to 40%. The addition of pectin to feed emulsions was quite effective in markedly improving the retention of the three studied flavour compounds. In our previous work (Gharsallaoui et al., 2010), we showed that pectin was able to improve physical integrity of emulsion oil droplets during spray-drying. However, the pectin positive effect on both the droplet stability and the flavour retention at the time of spray-drying can also be explained by a protein molecular structure protective effect. Indeed, the obtained FTIR results showed that pectin was able to preserve the β-sheet secondary structure of pea protein when pea globulins/pectin complexes are heated. The study of the release characteristics of a flavour compound from dried powders showed that pectin addition did not affect the release profile mainly accomplished by the diffusion mechanism.     

MnCl2 and MgCl2 for the removal of reactive dye Levafix Brilliant Blue EBRA from synthetic textile wastewaters: an adsorption/aggregation mechanism

Two divalent cation-based coagulants, magnesium chloride and manganese chloride, were used to treat synthetic textile wastewaters containing the azo-dye pigment Levafix Brilliant Blue EBRA. The jar-tests were performed in the presence or absence of auxiliary dyeing chemicals. They proved that (i) both divalent cation-based coagulants were effective in the treatment of those alkaline effluents, (ii) better performances in terms of color removal, residual turbidity, and settled volume, were achieved with manganese chloride, and (iii) the presence of dyeing auxiliaries significantly increases the required coagulant demand for treating the textile effluent. The dye removal mechanisms were investigated by combining observations of freeze-dried sediments with transmission electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and selected area electron diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, adsorption experiments, and aggregates size measurements with a laser sizer under cyclic shear conditions. The results show that brucite (Mg(OH)(2)) particles are formed when applying MgCl(2) to the textile wastewaters, whereas a mixture of feitknechite (β-MnOOH) and hausmannite (Mn(3)O(4)) is obtained when using MnCl(2). More poorly crystallized particles are formed in presence of auxiliary dyeing chemicals. The adsorption experiments suggested that the azo-dye pigment adsorbs onto the surface of precipitating phases, whereas the aggregation dynamics indicated that a charge-neutralization mechanism underlies the formation of aggregates. The dye removal is then consistent with a precipitation/adsorption mechanism.     

Pressure drop in a split‐and‐recombine caterpillar micromixer in case of newtonian and non‐newtonian fluids

Microreactors are very promising tools for the design of future chemical processes. For example, emulsions of very narrow size distribution are obtained at much lower energy consumption than the one spent with usual processes. Micromixers play thereby an eminent role. The goal of this study is to better understand the hydrodynamic properties of a split‐and‐recombine Caterpillar micromixer (CPMM) specially with regard to handling viscoelastic fluids, a topic hardly addressed so far in the context of micromixers in general, although industrial fluids like detergent, cosmetic, or food emulsions are non‐Newtonian. Friction factor was measured in a CPMM for both Newtonian and non‐Newtonian fluids. For Newtonian fluids, the friction factor in the laminar regime is f/2 = 24/Re. The laminar regime exists up to Reynolds numbers of 15. For shear‐thinning fluids like Carbopol 940 or viscoelastic fluids like Poly Acryl Amide (PAAm) aqueous solutions, the friction factor scales identically within statistical errors up to a generalized Reynolds number of 10 and 0.01, respectively. Above that limit, there is an excess pressure drop for the viscoelastic PAAm solution. This excess pressure drop multiplies the friction factor by more than a decade over a decade of Reynolds numbers. The origin of this excess pressure drop is the high elongational flow present in the Caterpillar static mixer applied to a highly viscoelastic fluid. This result can be extended to almost all static mixers, because their flows are generally highly elongational. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 59: 2679–2685, 2013     

New non-dipolar structures with significant quadratic hyperpoiarizabilites

‘Octupolar’ molecules are of particular interest in the field of nonlinear optics due to their potentially large quadratic nonlinearities. Within this framework, we have designed organic chromophores of tetrahedral symmetry and investigated their quadratic nonlinearities by performing harmonic light scattering (HLS) experiments in solutions. Issues related to the molecular engineering of the nonlinearity-transparency trade-off have been addressed. As a result, molecules combining significant quadratic hyperpolarizabilities and excellent transparency have been identified.     

Neuronal regeneration: extending axons from bench to brain

Many studies have shown that myelin in the central nervous system strongly inhibits the regeneration of axons, so it comes as a surprise to discover that adult neurons transplanted into the brain rapidly extend their axons through myelinated pathways.     

Comparison of the effects of sucrose and hexose on furfural formation and browning in cookies baked at different temperatures

The influence of the type of sugar and baking temperature on sugar degradation, hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) formation and browning was studied in model cookies. The baking process was characterised by the temperature in the cookie and the water content and activity. A reference browning was selected to compare the differently processed cookies. The accumulation of HMF was modelled at three temperatures for three formulas (sucrose (S-CK), glucose (G-CK) or fructose (F-CK)). HMF started to accumulate at a_w between 0.5 and 0.7 depending on the temperature and followed a first order kinetic, highly dependent on the baking temperature and type of sugar. Cookies baked at 200 °C accumulated 10–100 times less HMF than those baked at higher temperatures. Below 250 °C, S-CK produced less HMF than G- or F-CK, but the inverse was observed at 300 °C.     

Thermal Conductivity of Yttria–Zirconia Single Crystals, Determined with Spatially Resolved Infrared Thermography

The thermal diffusivity of yttria–zirconia (Y₂O₃–ZrO₂) single crystals, with YO_1.5 concentrations in the range of 0–60 mol%, has been determined using a new method that is based on spatially resolved (20 μm) infrared mapping of a modulated thermal field. The decreasing trend of the thermal conductivity ( K ), as a function of the YO_1.5 content (up to 20 mol%), can be described using a model based on a Debye approach that has been modified by introducing a cut-off length for the phonon mean free path. At higher concentrations, K increases, as a result of a possible ordering of the point defects.     

Récepteurs adaptatifs pour transmission de données a grande vitesse

Annals of Telecommunications - Les auteurs présentent une synthèse des principaux résultats concernant les récepteurs adaptatifs de transmission de données à grande...