A New Two-Step Chromatographic Procedure for Fractionation of Potato Proteins with Potato Fruit Juice and Spray-Dried Protein as Source Materials

In an effort to purify potato proteins of superior food grade quality, a new procedure involving anion exchange (ion exchange (IEX)) and hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) was established. Liquid potato fruit juice (PFJ) or re-suspended spray-dried protein was separated by IEX yielding two fractions: a protease inhibitor (PI)-rich fraction and a patatin-rich fraction. Each of these fractions was re-chromatographed on HIC, resulting in two new sub-fractions which were characterised by electrophoresis and mass spectrometry. A high-quality powder should have high lightness, low polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity and glycoalkaloid content below 150 μg/g. The PI fraction from spray-dried powder had high lightness (L* = 83) compared to patatin (L* = 50), whereas IEX purification from PFJ resulted in a PI fraction with decreased lightness (L* = 66) and a patatin fraction with increased lightness (L* = 68). HIC fractionation led to increased lightness for patatin fraction, but decreased lightness for the PFJ PI fractions. HIC purification significantly lowered PPO activity in the fractions due to its selective affinity. The lowest total glycoalkaloid content was generally found in HIC fractions from spray-dried powder (150 μg/g), while high levels (>1000 μg/g) were found in PI fractions from PFJ. In conclusion, it was possible to obtain a PI-rich protein isolate from powder with good-quality attributes after both IEX and HIC, while for patatin, the best quality was obtained after the HIC only, and there, the colour or PPO activity may still be a problem depending on source material.     

Effect of cooking method on the fatty acid profile of New Zealand King Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)

Farmed New Zealand King Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) was prepared according to common consumer techniques; raw, poached, steamed, microwaved, pan fried (no added oil), oven baked (no added oil) and deep fried (in sunflower oil). The fatty acid profile was investigated to determine the optimal preparation techniques to achieve both optimal sensory and nutritional qualities, in particular the levels of long chain polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids. The modified Bligh and Dyer method was used for lipid extraction and the Hartman and Lago method for FAMES preparation. Fatty acid composition was determined by gas chromatography. There were moisture and lipid losses during cooking amongst the different methods. The fatty acid profile showed only minor differences between the methods apart from an increase in PUFA in the deep fried salmon due to linoleic acid uptake from the frying oil. In all the cooking methods the omega-3 fatty acids were well preserved. However, deep fried showed the lowest amounts of omega-3 fatty acids. As the results showed good preservation of omega-3 fatty acids regardless of cooking method, there may be possible “internal protection” of omega-3 fatty acids in King Salmon that warrants future research.     

Characterization of palladium supported on sulfated zirconia catalysts by DRIFTS, XAS and n-butane isomerization reaction in the presence of hydrogen

Palladium supported on sulfated zirconia (PdSZ) has been characterized by the n-butane isomerization reaction in the presence of hydrogen, X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and diffuse reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (DRIFTS) of adsorbed carbon monoxide. Catalyst calcination at 873 K followed by hydrogen reduction at 513 K results in the formation of 30–40 Å Pd metal clusters, but the surface can only weakly adsorb CO, though stronger than Pd-free, sulfated zirconia catalysts. In the presence of hydrogen, PdSZ has a lower n-butane isomerization activity than SZ, and the Pd function cannot stabilize the reaction at low H₂/n-butane ratios.     

Chemical Interactions Promoting the ZrO2 Tetragonal Stabilization in ZrO2–SiO2 Binary Oxides

Metastable tetragonal ZrO₂ phase has been observed in ZrO₂–SiO₂ binary oxides prepared by the sol–gel method. There are many studies concerning the causes of ZrO₂ tetragonal stabilization in binary oxides such as Y₃O₂–ZrO₂, MgO–ZrO₂, or CaO–ZrO₂. In these binary oxides, oxygen vacancies cause changes or defects in the ZrO₂ lattice parameters, which are responsible for tetragonal stabilization. Since oxygen vacancies are not expected in ZrO₂–SiO₂ binary oxides, tetragonal stabilization should just be due to the difficulty of zirconia particles growing in the silica matrix. Furthermore, changes in the tetragonal ZrO₂ crystalline lattice parameters of these binary oxides have recently been reported in a previous paper. The changes of the zirconia crystalline lattice parameters must result from the chemical interactions at the silica–zirconia interface (e.g., formation of Si–O–Zr bonds or Si–O⁻ groups). In this paper, FT-IR and ²⁹Si NMR spectroscopy have been used to elucidate whether the presence of Si–O–Zr or Si–O⁻ is responsible for tetragonal phase stabilization. Moreover, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy have also been used to study the crystalline characteristics of the samples.     

Kinetic study of the depolymerization of Bruceton coal

The depolymerization of coals using phenol and p-toluenesulphonic acid, was studied.In this reaction the acid ‘catalyst’ is destroyed, its rate of destruction being different for different coals. A kinetic study of the depolymerization of Bruceton coal under conditions of gradually declining acid concentration has been carried out. Parameters which were monitored include the weight increase of the products, the solubility of the products in benzene-ethanol, the extractability of the products into pyridine, the amount of colloidal material present in the pyridine-extractables, and the molecular weight distribution of the pyridine-soluble products. Under the conditions used, the reaction produces primarily polymeric products from coal. The molecular weight distribution of the pyridine-soluble material seems to undergo no major changes with reaction time.     

污泥作为污水厂内碳源的水解特性及工艺选择

随着各地污水厂出水水质对氮、磷要求的日益提高,强化脱氮除磷成为必然要求,但是我国多数污水厂由于多种原因导致进水碳源不足,尤其是进水SCOD、VFAs的匮乏,直接影响了生物脱氮除磷的效率,甚至不得已采用人工投加外碳源脱氮或者化学除磷方式以满足严格的出水氮、磷要求,但这无疑大大提高了污水厂的产泥率及运行成本.充分挖掘污水厂的“内碳源”,利用污泥水解产生VFAs,不仅能有效提高除磷脱氮效率,而且可以降低污水厂的污泥产量,是可持续的资源化技术.比较了初沉污泥和活性污泥的水解特性差异,介绍了污泥水解工艺的常用构型及参数选择,以及国内外一些成功的实施案例.     

Urea hydrolysis and precipitation dynamics in a urine-collecting system

Blockages caused by inorganic precipitates are a major problem of urine-collecting systems. The trigger of precipitation is the hydrolysis of urea by bacterial urease. While the maximum amount of precipitates, i.e. the precipitation potential, can be estimated with equilibrium calculations, little is known about the dynamics of ureolysis and precipitation. To gain insight in these processes, we performed batch experiments with precipitated solids and stored urine from a urine-collecting system and later simulated the results with a computer model. We found that urease-active bacteria mainly grow in the pipes and are flushed into the collection tank. Both, bacteria and free urease, hydrolyse urea. Only few days are necessary for complete urea depletion in the collection tank. Two experiments with precipitated solids from the pipes showed that precipitation sets in soon after ureolysis has started. At the end of the experiments, 11% and 24% of urea was hydrolysed while the mass concentration of newly formed precipitates already corresponded to 87% and 97% of the precipitation potential, respectively. We could simulate ureolysis and precipitation with a computer model based on the surface dislocation approach. The simulations showed that struvite and octacalcium phosphate (OCP) are the precipitating minerals. While struvite precipitates already at low supersaturation, OCP precipitation starts not until a high level of supersaturation is reached. Since measurements and computer simulations show that hydroxyapatite (HAP) is the final calcium phosphate mineral in urine solutions, OCP is only a precursor phase which slowly transforms into HAP.     

Use of artificial neural network to evaluate the vibration mitigation performance of geofoam-filled trenches

Development activities in a city often generate ground vibration that can cause discomfort to the occupants in nearby buildings, disturbances to the activities undertaken in the buildings and possible damage to nearby structures. This ground vibration is caused by construction activities such as pile driving, ground compaction etc., and road and rail traffic. The use of trenches has been an effective way to mitigate the adverse effects of such ground vibration. The effectiveness of the trench depends on many parameters including the properties of the vibration source, soil medium and trench in-fill material, trench dimensions and the requirements of the receiver. The process of selecting an effective trench for vibration mitigation can therefore become complex due to the influence of a number of parameters and their wide range of values. This paper investigates the use of artificial neural network (ANN) as a smart and efficient tool to predict the effectiveness of geofoam-filled trenches to mitigate ground vibration. Towards this end, a database is developed from an extensive study on the effects of the controlling parameters through numerical simulations with a validated finite element (FE) model. At a certain distance from the vibration source, a geofoam-filled trench is introduced to evaluate the efficiency of vibration mitigation with changes in key parameters such as excitation frequency, amplitude of load, trench configuration (i.e. depth and width), soil shear wave velocity, soil density and damping ratio. These were selected as the input parameters for the ANN while amplitude reduction ratio and peak particle velocity (PPV) were considered as outputs. A multilayer feed forward network was used and trained with the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. Neural networks with different configurations were evaluated by comparing coefficient of determination (R²) and mean square error (MSE). The optimum architecture was then used to predict previous results, which revealed the accuracy and the effectiveness of the ANN approach. The findings of this study will provide useful information for vibration mitigation using geofoam-filed trenches.     

Bifunctional Catalyst Control of Alkene Isomerization

The ability to control the formation and chemistry of alkenes is of central importance to organic synthesis in both industry and academia. Progress in using catalysts with bifunctional (heteroaryl)phosphines to control positional and/or geometric selectivity in alkene isomerization and related chemistry is summarized.

     

Molecular cloning and characterization of a thermostable α-amylase exhibiting an unusually high activity

An α-amylase gene was cloned from the thermophilic bacterium Bacillus subtilis isolated from Indonesian oil palm shell waste. The gene expressed an extracellular enzyme. Optimal hydrolysis conditions for the enzyme were 70°C and pH 6.0. The specific activity of the enzyme was 16.0 kU per mg of protein, which was higher than for other thermostable amylases. Hydrolytic products of the enzyme using starch and glycogen were mainly maltohexaose and maltopentaose. The enzyme had a K _m value of 0.099 mg/mL for amylopectin, more than 10 times lower than for amylose. The catalytic efficiency of the enzyme using amylopectin was 39,200 mL/mg·s and was 3,270 mL/mg·s using amylose. The enzyme liquefied corn starch at pH 5.0, which was successfully converted to glucose using commercial glucoamylase and pullulanase without pH adjustment. The enzyme has advantages for industrial applications.