Combining fruit pulp and rice protein agglomerated with collagen to potencialize it as a functional food: particle characterization, pulp formulation and sensory analysis.

In this study, agglomeration process was applied in concentrated rice protein (RP) powder using hydrolyzed collagen (HC) as binder to improve wetting time and flowability, aiming at its application in the food industry, namely for fruit pulp supplementation. Fruit pulps from acerola (Malpighia emarginata), cashew (Anarcadium occidentale), guava (Psidium guajava), soursop (Annona muricate), passion fruit (Passiflora edulis) and mandarin (Citrus reticulata) replaced in 1-5% (w/w) by RP or RP agglomerated with collagen were evaluated in terms of viscosity/color and sensory attributes. The addition of RP led to changes in the color of the pulps analyzed, resulting in a red and yellowish color. Viscosity analysis showed that the agglomeration process increased RP dispersion as a function of collagen concentration. The percentage of concentrated RP and RP agglomerated with collagen was limited to 1-3% in order to generate acceptance levels higher than 80%, which is similar to the acceptance rate of pulps without any addition (control-NA).

Treatment of textile industry effluents using orange waste: a proposal to reduce color and chemical oxygen demand.

Various agricultural residues have been tested as biosorbents due to their low cost, high surface area, and favorable surface chemistry. In this work, a sweet orange albedo was tested as a biosorbent for treatment of real textile effluents. The orange albedo powder was prepared by drying the residue at 50 °C and milling to 30 mesh, and then used for dye adsorption from a alkaline (pH = 10.71) effluent. The adsorption process was studied in batch experiments at 30 °C by measuring color removal and chemical oxygen demand (COD). The color removal was found not to be significantly altered when the effluent was used in its raw state, while COD increased probably due to albedo degradation. For the effluent diluted to 60% (Veffluent VH2O(-1)), color and COD removal percentages of approximately 89% were obtained. It was found that pH played a very significant role on the adsorption process, as the treated albedo displayed a relative pHPZC* of 4.61, and the highest dye removal efficiencies were reached at pH lower than 2. The COD was strongly influenced by the effluent dilution. The effectiveness in eliminating color and COD shows that orange albedo can be potentially used as a biosorbent to treat textile wastewater.

Comparison between Brazilian agro-wastes and activated carbon as adsorbents to remove Ni(II) from aqueous solutions.

This research was performed to find an alternative, low-cost, competitive, locally available and efficient adsorbent to treat nickel (Ni) containing effluents. For this purpose, several Brazilian agro-wastes like sugarcane bagasse (SCB), passion fruit wastes (PFW), orange peel (OP) and pineapple peel (PP) were compared with an activated carbon (AC). The adsorbents were characterized. Effects of fundamental factors affecting the adsorption were investigated using batch tests. Kinetic and equilibrium studies were performed using conventional models. It was verified that the adsorption was favored at pH of 6.0 for all agro-wastes, being dependent of the Ni speciation, point of zero charge and surface area of the adsorbents. The Ni removal percentage was in the following order: SCB > OP > AC > PFW > PP. From the kinetic viewpoint, the Elovich model was appropriate to fit the Ni adsorption onto SCB, while for the other adsorbents, the pseudo-first-order model was the most suitable. For all adsorbents, the Langmuir model was the more adequate to represent the equilibrium data, being the maximum adsorption capacities of 64.1 mg g(-1), 60.7 mg g(-1), 63.1 mg g(-1), 48.1 mg g(-1) and 64.3 mg g(-1) for SCB, PFW, OP, PP and AC, respectively. These results indicated that mainly SCB and OP can be used as alternative adsorbents to treat Ni containing effluents.