Simulation of ethanol recovery and economic analysis of pectin production on an industrial scale.

Taking into account that the industrial processing of passion fruit generates significant amounts of waste (only the peels represent 51% of the total mass of the fruit), in the present study an economic analysis was conducted to evaluate industrial line viability for pectin extraction from passion fruit peels. Knowing that absolute ethanol (99.50% purity), used in the precipitation and washing steps, has a higher cost, a simulation of extractive distillation was performed using solvents ethylene glycol and glycerol, in the software Aspen Plus v.11, being possible to recover 99.63% of ethanol for both solvents. The results of the economic evaluation showed that the process using ethylene glycol has an advantage, mainly due to its higher profitability (1.13 times higher), lower production cost (94.86% of the price using glycerol), and a lower breakeven point (around 3% smaller). The financial indicators showed profitability and attractiveness for the implementation of this processing line.

Anti-inflammatory bowel effect of industrial orange by-products in DSS-treated mice.

This work addresses the role of different by-products derived from the industrial extraction of orange juice in a possible anti-inflammatory effect in mice with colitis induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS). Fresh orange residue (FOR), dry orange residue (DOR), orange liqueur (OL) and animal feed (AF), as well as commercial citrus pectin (CP), were administered to C57BL/6J mice for 15 days before starting the DSS treatment. Analysis of macroscopic parameters such as the Disease Activity Index (DAI) and the colonic weight/length ratio revealed an anti-inflammatory effect following intake of FOR, AF or CP. Moreover, q-PCR of RNA from colonic tissue indicated measurable changes in the expression of TNF-α, IL-1ß, iNOS, and intercellular adhesion molecules ICAM I, as well as in intestinal barrier proteins such as MUC-3, occludin, and ZO-1. Pectin, phenolic compounds and/or Maillard reaction products formed at initial steps were identified as relevant components exerting the ascribed beneficial effects. Our findings could open up the further application of a variety of orange by-products as food supplements in the potential amelioration of inflammatory bowel diseases.

A novel, cost-effective and efficient chicken egg IgY purification procedure.

Chicken IgY antibodies have been touted to be a superior alternative to mammalian antibodies for use in various immunological, molecular biology and proteomics applications for several reasons. These include, but are not limited to, improved specificity due to maximum phylogenetic distance between host and recipient, cost effectiveness in maintaining commercial numbers of hens, IgY yield and the use of non-invasive methods used to isolate IgY from eggs as opposed to blood. Despite this, the routine use of IgY-based methodologies in the laboratory is not widespread. One reason for this reluctance may be derived from the difficulties and expense of isolating IgY antibodies from egg yolk in sufficient yield, with high purity at a realistic reasonable price. Here, we describe an extremely cost-effective ($5USD per egg), rapid (within 5 h), efficient and optimised technique to isolate high yields (60 mg) of high purity (~80%) chicken IgY from egg yolks using the common plant gums pectin and κ-carrageenan in the presence of calcium chloride to delipidate egg yolk mixtures whilst maintaining IgY in solution and then ammonium sulphate to subsequently precipitate the resulting IgY antibodies to higher purity. Our data demonstrates that this technique results in a high yield and purity of IgY that is comparable (if not superior to) existing commercial IgY isolation kits. The method also allows the isolation of immunologically active IgY which can be used for further downstream immunotechnological processes. Furthermore, it can also be easily implemented in a standard well equipped laboratory, and may be scaled up to commercial quantities (i.e., thousands of eggs).

Isolation of pectin-enriched products from red beet (Beta vulgaris L. var. conditiva) wastes: composition and functional properties.

The present work was dedicated to the development of an extraction process for red beet (Beta vulgaris L. var. conditiva) by-products that preserves the high molecular weight of the macromolecules with the primary aim of waste upgrading. Our study concerns the extraction of pectin-enriched products with potential thickening properties for their usage in food formulation, as well as with some healthy physiological effect, by using citrate buffer (pH = 5.2) either alone or with enzymes (hemicellulase or cellulase) active on cell wall polysaccharide networks. Considering that red beet tissue contains ferulic acid, which cross-links pectin macromolecules through arabinose residues to anchor them into the cell wall, an alkaline pretreatment was also evaluated in order to perform polysaccharide hydrolysis in the cell wall network to accomplish higher renderings. Chemical composition and yield, as well as the in vitro glucose retention exerted by the isolated fiber products were finally analyzed.