Project description:This study explores the innovative potential of native lignin as a sustainable biopolyol for synthesizing polyurethane aerogels with variable microstructures, significant specific surface areas, and high mechanical stability. Three types of lignin-Organosolv, Aquasolv, and Soda lignin-were evaluated based on structural characteristics, Klason lignin content, and particle size, with Organosolv lignin being identified as the optimal candidate. The microstructure of lignin polyurethane samples was adjustable by solvent choice: Gelation in DMSO and pyridine, with high affinity to lignin, resulted in dense materials with low specific surface areas, while the use of the low-affinity solvent e.g acetone led to aggregated, macroporous materials due to microphase separation. Microstructural control was achieved by use of DMSO/acetone and pyridine/acetone solvent mixtures, which balanced gelation and phase separation to produce fine, homogeneous, mesoporous materials. Specifically, a 75% DMSO/acetone mixture yielded mechanically stable lignin polyurethane aerogels with a low envelope density of 0.49 g cm-3 and a specific surface area of ~300 m2 g-1. This study demonstrates a versatile approach to tailoring lignin polyurethane aerogels with adjustable textural and mechanical properties by simple adjustment of the solvent composition, highlighting the critical role of solvent-lignin interactions during gelation and offering a pathway to sustainable, high-performance materials.
Project description:The effect of extrusion cooking on the quality of rice extrudate with infused microencapsulated anthocyanin was investigated. The moisture sorption isotherm of the extrudate was also studied. The rotatable central composite design was used to optimize the extrusion process and the optimized conditions were: screw speed, 121 rpm; barrel temperature, 91.89 °C; and moisture content, 22.03%. The extrudate showed anthocyanin content of 0.218 mg/L; true density, 1.48 g/cc; water activity 0.51, water solubility index, 7.49%; and specific mechanical energy, 31.39 kJ/kg. The antioxidant activity and solubility of the extrudate were higher as compared with native extrudate. The moisture sorption isotherm of the extrudate was found to follow type III isotherm behavior according to the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller classification. The sorption isotherm was analyzed using several models and the Caurie and Peleg models were best fitted with the extrudate isotherm data. The present work manifested a way to develop antioxidant rich extrudate.
Project description:Herein, feasibility of supplementing wheat flour with Chinese yam powder (CYP) for noodle preparation was assessed. After supplementation with CYP, the alterations in chemical, texture, cooking, rheological, and microstructure attributes of noodles were observed. Due to higher protein and lower gluten, 20% of CYP promoted the stable network of gluten and starch particles. However, the excessive addition reduced the flexibility and the chewiness. The adverse changes were observed at 40% substitution level in texture profile analysis (TPA) and rheological parameters due to disrupted gluten-protein network which accelerated the exposure of starch particles. The CYP incorporation up to 20% showed better mouthfeel but further addition lowered the total sensory scores. Scanning Electronic Microscopy (SEM) analysis confirmed the modifications in noodles microstructure as CYP addition affected starch granule structure. In general, 30% substitution significantly improved the textural and rheological properties of noodles, indicating the potential of Chinese yam powder for industrial application.
Project description:Cricket powder (CP) contains significant amounts of protein, fat (including unsaturated fatty acids), and fiber, as well as vitamins and minerals. The high nutritional value and low price make it an interesting addition to food production. This paper is a report on the results of the addition of cricket powder to pasta. Three levels of durum semolina replacement were chosen: 5%, 10%, and 15%. The obtained products were analyzed for their nutritional composition, cooking and textural properties, and color, as well as consumer acceptance. The results indicate that the addition of CP influenced the cooking weight and cooking loss (reducing losses and water absorption), as well as the color of the pasta, reducing its lightness and shifting color balances to blue and red. The firmness of pasta was also influenced. The firmness was strengthened by addition of CP. Principal components analysis indicated that the flavor change had the most pronounced effect on consumer acceptance. Nevertheless, sensory evaluation proved that protein-enriched pasta produced with CP has consumer acceptance comparable with that of conventional products.
Project description:An experimental study of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) composites filled with talc (0-15 wt.%) was carried out to investigate the rheological properties. The apparent melt viscosity, melt density, and die-swell ratio (B) of the composites were measured at constant shear stress and constant shear rate by using a melt flow indexer and capillary rheometer. The experimental conditions were set to a temperature range from 190 to 220 °C for both apparatuses whereas a load range from 5 to 12.16 kg was selected for melt flow indexer and shear rate range from 1 to 10000 s-1 for capillary rheometer. The initial study showed that the talc particulates did not influence the melt viscosity compared with the neat HDPE but decreased the elasticity of the polymer system. The HDPE/talc systems obeyed power-law model in shear stress-shear rate variations and were shear thinning, meanwhile, the die-swell increased with an increased wall shear rate and shear stress. The melt density of the composites increased linearly with an increase of the filler weight fraction and decreased with the increase of the testing temperature. The talc-HDPE composites showed compressible in the molten state.
Project description:In the present study, the potential to design natural tea-infused set yoghurt was investigated. Three types of tea (Camellia sinensis): black, green and oolong tea as well as lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.) were used to produce set yoghurt. The sensory quality (using Quantitative Descriptive Profile analysis and consumer hedonic test) and texture analysis, yield stress, physical stability and colour analysis were assessed to describe the profile of the yoghurt and influence of quality attributes of the product on the consumer acceptability of infused yoghurts in comparison with plain yoghurt. Among the analyzed plant additives for yoghurt, addition of 2% oolong tea to the yoghurt allows a functional food to be obtained with satisfactory texture and sensory properties, accepted by consumers at the same level as for control yoghurt. Both types of yoghurt were also characterised by high consumer willingness to buy, which confirms the legitimacy of using oolong tea as a natural, functional yoghurt additive that improves the sensory quality of the product. The high overall quality of yoghurt with oolong tea in comparison to other plant extracts was associated with the intensive peach flavour and odour, nectar and sweet odour and flavour, and the highest creaminess and thickness. That was confirmed by principal component analysis (PCA) where the overall sensory quality of yoghurts was mainly positively correlated with peach flavour and odour, sweet odour and yoghurt odour, while it was negatively correlated with herbs flavor and odour, and green tea flavour and odour. The sensory profile confirmed no differences in textural profile between plain yoghurt and the tea-infused one measured in the mouth, which corresponds to the result of textural properties such as firmness and adhesiveness.
Project description:Plant-based meat analogs are food products that mimic the appearance, texture, and taste of real meat. The development process requires laborious experimental iterations and expert knowledge to meet consumer expectations. To address these problems, we propose a machine learning (ML)-based framework to predict the textural properties of meat analogs. We introduce the proximate compositions of the raw materials, namely protein, fat, carbohydrate, fibre, ash, and moisture, in percentages and the "targeted moisture contents" of the meat analogs as input features of the ML models, such as Ridge, XGBoost, and MLP, adopting a build-in feature selection mechanism for predicting "Hardness" and "Chewiness". We achieved a mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 22.9%, root mean square error (RMSE) of 10.101 for Hardness, MAPE of 14.5%, and RMSE of 6.035 for Chewiness. In addition, carbohydrates, fat and targeted moisture content are found to be the most important factors in determining textural properties. We also investigate multicollinearity among the features, linearity of the designed model, and inconsistent food compositions for validation of the experimental design. Our results have shown that ML is an effective aid in formulating plant-based meat analogs, laying out the groundwork to expediently optimize product development cycles to reduce costs.
Project description:Iron aerogels have been synthesized by microwave heating for the first time. Therefore, it is essential to optimize this synthesis process to evaluate the possibility of obtaining nanometric materials with tailored properties and fitting them to the needs of different applications. Herein, the effect of the ratio between reagents and the time of synthesis on the final textural, morphological, and structural properties has been evaluated. The micro-meso-macroporosity of the samples can be tailored by modifying the ratio between reagents, whereas the time of synthesis has only a slight effect on the microporosity. Both the proportion between reagents and the time of synthesis are essential to controlling the nanometric morphology, making it possible to obtain either cluster- or flake-type structures. Regarding the chemical and structural composition, the samples are mainly composed of iron(II) and iron(III) oxides. However, the percentage of iron(II) can be modulated by changing the ratio between reagents, which implies that it is possible to obtain materials from highly magnetic materials to materials without magnetic properties. This control over the properties of iron aerogels opens a new line of opportunities for the use of this type of material in several fields of applications such as electrochemistry, electrocatalysis, and electrical and electronic engineering.
Project description:Fucus vesiculosus is a brown seaweed rich in iodine, fucoxanthin, and phlorotannins, all known to be bioactive compounds associated with health-promoting events. The enrichment of a staple food such as pasta with seaweed flour, could convey health benefits without changing eating habits. In this work, F. vesiculosus flour (FVF) was incorporated into durum wheat pasta at 1, 5.5, and 10% gradient levels. The pasta enriched with FVF needed additional water during dough formation and required more cooking time, resulting in higher weight gain but also increased cooking loss (observed with 5.5 and 10%). The fracturability of raw pasta decreased for all the FVF pasta, though the cooked firmness and hardness were only affected with the inclusion of 10% FVF. The substitution of wheat semolina with FVF at a 10% level caused an increase in the pasta's fiber content, which resulted in a more discontinuous protein-matrix structure, as observed at the microscopic level. Untrained consumers were very positive about the overall sensory traits of the pasta with low supplementation levels (1 and 5.5%). About 72% of panelists selected the 1% FVF pasta as their favorite sample. The utilization of FVF in pasta should be targeted at low inclusion levels to cope with the expected texture quality and prevent the impairment of the sensory traits.
Project description:Set type yoghurts are characterised by a semi-solid texture, which is created during the fermentation process. The tea infusion in this type of yoghurt production can influence the quality of the final product. Therefore, the aim of the experiment was to evaluate the influence of the addition of 3, 6 and 9% inulin to oolong tea-infused yoghurts on the sensory quality. It has been evaluated by trained experts using a Quantitative Descriptive Profile analysis and by consumers using hedonic scaling, as well as on instrumentally evaluated features such as texture, stability and visual parameters. The addition of oolong tea to yoghurt resulted in positive changes in the perception of sweet, peach and nectar odours and flavours, and also creaminess, as well as negative changes in the presence of a bitter taste, the whey presence and a colour intensification towards dark cream (p ≤ 0.05). The addition of inulin to the tested oolong tea yogurts caused a decrease in the whey presence and brightened the yoghurt's colour (6% and 9%, p ≤ 0.05, respectively), as well as an improved creaminess and an increase in the sweet taste of the yoghurt. It was also observed that the addition of oolong tea deteriorated the instrumentally evaluated texture of the set yoghurts, while inulin at a higher concentration (9%, p ≤ 0.05) increased the firmness and adhesiveness. Moreover, the addition of inulin also had a positive effect on the yoghurt's stability. The addition of inulin to oolong tea-infused set yoghurts may be valuable both as a source of prebiotic fibre in functional products and as a factor improving the quality of these products.