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Rice husk is an important byproduct from the milling process of paddy rice, with a huge amount being produced worldwide each year. Silica exits abundantly in rice husk in an amorphous form. Hence, rice husk is a natural and renewable biomass source for extraction of silica and subsequently for manufacturing value-added, silicon-based materials. Currently, most rice husk is combusted directly to produce power or electricity resulting in the production of a large quantity of rice husk ash. Only a small amount of rice husk is used for extraction of silica in an industrial scale. This chapter presents a general review on the physicochemical properties of rice husk and rice husk ash, and their application as adsorbents in vegetable oil refining and removal of heavy metals. Different processing methods for production of silica and silica aerogel from rice husk ash, and the factors that influenced the physical and chemical properties of these products, are also addressed.

Publisher Summary This chapter provides an overview of trans fats replacement solutions in China. Consumption of trans fats has adverse effects on health. This is now common sense among the public in China after two years of discussion, particularly in the public media. As a result, the governments push the regulatory discussion and implementations forward. The Trans Fatty Acid (TFA) contents in foods before and after this discussion show significantly different levels. The level of TFA content in foods now is very low (2% based on fat) with only a few exceptions, such as fats in formulated milk drinks, certain confectionary products, and so forth. TFAs are mainly produced from partial hydrogenation. Thus, the amount of partially hydrogenated fats in the oils and fats industry has been reduced significantly because the need from the food industry has been quickly reduced. For this reason, the use of palm-based fat materials has replaced partially hydrogenated fats in most shortening and margarine recipes. This replacement occurred during the 2011–2013 period in the oils and fats industry. The change has left a gap for the oils and fats industry to find solutions for the food industry because replacement brings technical challenges. From public and regulatory aspects, the term hydrogenation has been blackened. The use of full hydrogenation to produce needed hard fats is also limited because the term of hydrogenation has to be labeled. The challenges raised by the change will stay for some years more before all the necessary solutions are there for the food industry.

Publisher Summary Palm oil is a lipid extract from the fresh mesocarp of the fruits from the oil palm tree (Elaeis guineensis), which belong to the Palmae family. The major constituents of palm oil are Triacylglycerols (TAG), while the crude palm oil contains approximately 1% of minor constituents, including carotenoids, tocopherols and tocotrienols, phytosterols, phospholipids, glycolipids, terpenic, and aliphatic hydrocarbons. Some minor components, especially the carotenoids and tocopherols and tocotrienols, not only maintain the stability and quality of palm oil, but also possess significant biological properties, including antioxidation, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anthrosclerosis-controlling, and cholesterol-lowering effects. This chapter discusses the general information on the characterization, source, processing effect on the content, analytic methods, biomedical properties, and applications of minor components, in particular, carotenoids, tocopherols and tocotrienols, and phytosterols. A lot of studies on palm oil and its minor constituents have been conducted. β -Carotene in palm oil may be important to improve vitamin A deficiency in addition to its antioxidant activity and protective effects against several forms of cancer. Tocotrienols are more powerful than tocopherols in terms of antioxidant and anti-cancer activity.