Nongovernmental valorization of carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is considered the largest contributor to the greenhouse gas effect. Most attempts to manage the flow of CO2 or carbon into our environment involve reducing net emissions or sequestering the gas into long-lived sinks. Using CO2 as a chemical feedstock has a long history, but using it on scales that might impact the net emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere has not generally been considered seriously. There is also a growing interest in employing our natural biomes of carbon such as trees, vegetation, and soils as storage media. Some amelioration of the net carbon emissions into the atmosphere could be achieved by concomitant large withdrawals of carbon. This report surveys the potential and limitations in employing carbon as a resource for organic chemicals, fuels, inorganic materials, and in using the biome to manage carbon. The outlook for each of these opportunities is also described.     

Influence of cocoa butter refining on the quality of milk chocolate

A refining step is often crucial for the removal of undesired components in fats and oils. More flexible refining technologies are required due to a global decline in cocoa butter quality and to meet industry’s demand for cocoa butters with improved properties. The aim was to investigate the impact of the cocoa butter refining process on milk chocolate quality. Therefore a crude cocoa butter was subjected to a steam refining at different temperatures and this with or without a silica pretreatment. The major effect of the silica pretreatment was the complete removal of phosphorus (thus phospholipids), iron and alkaline components. During the steam refining step mainly Free Fatty Acids (FFA) were removed at increased temperatures (T ? 200 °C). The refining of the cocoa butter influenced the rheological properties of the chocolate. An increased packed column temperature, coinciding with the removal of FFA, resulted in a lower yield stress and a higher viscosity. Reduction of FFA positively influenced the crystallization kinetics and the formation of the crystal network, resulting in differences on a macroscopic scale.