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Natural food surfactants were produced from membrane-derived fragments of milk fat globules (MFGM) obtained from cream and buttermilk by microfiltration with diafiltration followed by churning. The obtained MFGM fragments were demonstrated for their emulsifying and functional properties and as substitute of commercial phospholipids (lecithin). Fine emulsions (droplet size ∼1.2 μm) were obtained by stabilization of the oil/water interface after low energy sonication. Stable emulsions were obtained with lecithin in the pH range between 5.8 and 7.8, whereas MFGM components enabled better stability above pH 6. Coalescence took place in the presence of calcium, owing to electrostatic screening. The stability of the emulsions increased with the addition of casein, which formed droplet flocs. The calcium-binding ability of MFGM is proposed to inhibit protein (casein) flocculation, leading to a highly interacting network that prevents phase separation and stable MFGM-based food emulsions.

Currently, geographic information system (GIS) models are popular for studying location-allocation-related questions concerning bioenergy plants. The aim of this study was to develop a model to investigate optimal locations for two different types of bioenergy plants, for farm and centralized biogas plants, and for wood terminals in rural areas based on minimizing transportation distances. The optimal locations of biogas plants were determined using location optimization tools in R software, and the optimal locations of wood terminals were determined using kernel density tools in ArcGIS. The present case study showed that the utilized GIS tools are useful for bioenergy-related decision-making to identify potential bioenergy areas and to optimize biomass transportation, and help to plan power plant sizing when candidate bioenergy plant locations have not been defined in advance. In the study area, it was possible to find logistically viable locations for 13 farm biogas plants (>100 kW) and for 8 centralized biogas plants (>300 kW) using a 10-km threshold for feedstock supply. In the case of wood terminals, the results identified the most intensive wood reserves near the highest road classes, and two potential locations were determined. acceptedVersion

Mesoporous silicon (PSi) is biocompatible and tailorable material with high potential in drug delivery applications. Here, we report of an evaluation of PSi as a carrier platform for theranostics by delivering a radioactive ion beam- (RIB-) based radioactive lanthanoid into tumors in a mouse model of prostate carcinoma. Thermally hydrocarbonized porous silicon (THCPSi) wafers were implanted with 159Dy at the facility for radioactive ion beams ISOLDE located at CERN, and the resulting [159Dy]THCPSi was postprocessed into particles. The particles were intratumorally injected into mice bearing prostate cancer xenografts. The stability of the particles was studied in vivo, followed by ex vivo biodistribution and autoradiographic studies. We showed that the process of producing radionuclide-implanted PSi particles is feasible and that the [159Dy]THCPSi particles stay stable and local inside the tumor over seven days. Upon release of 159Dy from the particles, the main site of accumulation is in the skeleton, which is in agreement with previous studies on the biodistribution of dysprosium. We conclude that THCPSi particles are a suitable platform together with RIB-based radiolanthanoids for theranostic purposes as they are retained after administration inside the tumor and the radiolanthanoid remains embedded in the THCPSi.

This study compared the efficiency of centrifugal and microfiltration separation of milk fat globules (MFG) from bovine cream and the changes that take place in the corresponding lipid membranes (MFGM). Creams were washed with water (1:10) and subjected to either centrifugation or microfiltration to fractionate proteins and other non-fat milk components. Protein analyses of the obtained fractions were carried out by gel electrophoresis. Lipid extraction and thin layer chromatography were also employed to separate lipid types and the amount of polar lipids were determined by gas chromatography. The effect of flow conditions on MFG's colloidal properties and MFGM components was evaluated based on estimates of the average rate of energy dissipation in microfiltration and centrifugation processes. Both were equally effective in removing the protein fraction (93% yield) as well as non-fat dry matter (~100% removal). Microfiltration reduced the mean particle size by 0.3 µm, whereas the opposite was observed for centrifugal separation (average size increase by 0.8 µm). The latter process also induced a more significant reduction in the electrostatic charges (zeta potential) of the colloids in the cream, which relates to the changes in the milk fat globule surface composition and the release of MFGM components. The dissociated polar lipids amounted to 24% and 20% upon centrifugation and microfiltration, respectively. Overall, the results suggest that MFG and MFGM are partially damaged under the shear forces typical of centrifugal and microfiltration separation. A high separation efficiency, with minimal fat globule damage and high MFGM yield is possible by adopting microfiltration under carefully optimized conditions.

The interest in totally bio-based materials is increasing due to their low carbon footprint and improved properties through intensive research. Polylactide (PLA)-based cellulose fibre compounds are finding their way into various injection-moulded applications. In addition to gain high-performance PLA–cellulose pulp fibre composites, there are also needed for additives such as plasticizers and coupling agents in the compounds. This research presents the use of a renewable material–based combined plasticizer-coupling agent as an additive in PLA bleached softwood kraft pulp (BSKP) composite. An epoxy-modified linseed oil showed capability for cross-linking PLA and cellulose fibre so enabling simultaneously improved strength tensile and impact properties for composite materials when added in amount of below 8% to fibre.

Hydrothermal pretreatment is commonly used for enhancing enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosics. Spruce and wheat straw were pretreated with increasing severity and lignin characteristics were analysed. The effect of enzymatically isolated lignin on the hydrolysis of Avicel and the adsorption of a cellobiohydrolase onto lignin was measured. Non-pretreated lignins had only a minor effect on Avicel hydrolysis. The structural changes in lignin accompanying hydrothermal pretreatment were associated with increased binding and inactivation of the cellulase on the lignin surface. The inhibitory effect was more pronounced in spruce than in wheat straw lignin. However, similar pretreatment severities caused similar levels of inhibition in Avicel hydrolysis for both biomass sources. The combined severity factor of the pretreatment correlated well with the inhibitory effect of lignin.

Polyacrylamides are widely applied for instance in wastewater treatment, papermaking, oil recovery and mining. Since they are bulk chemicals used in large quantities around the world, their fate in nature is of considerable interest. Both single microbial species as well as mixed populations have been investigated for degradation. Biodegradation of polyacrylamide begins with amidase catalysed deamination of polyacrylamide to ammonia and polyacrylate. The liberated ammonia is then used as a nitrogen source for growth by the microbes. The carbon backbone, polyacrylate, is more recalcitrant to biodegradation than the amide moieties. There are nevertheless reports on microbial growth with polyacrylamide and polyacrylate as the carbon sources. Several aerobic bacteria isolated from polyacrylamide and polyacrylate containing environments, as well as from soil, have been shown to catabolize these polymers. Although enzymology of the bacterial degradation is largely unknown, some hypothetical pathways have been suggested. With white-rot fungi degradation has been demonstrated to be initiated by an indirect radical mechanism catalysed by oxidative enzymes. Anaerobic decomposition has been reported for sulfur-reducing bacteria and mixed bacterial populations.

Electrosynthesis of formate is a promising technology to convert CO2 and electricity from renewable sources into a biocompatible, soluble, non-flammable, and easily storable compound. In the model methanogen Methanococcus maripaludis, uptake of cathodic electrons was shown to proceed indirectly via formation of formate or H2 by undefined, cell-derived enzymes. Here, we identified that the multi-enzyme heterodisulfide reductase supercomplex (Hdr-SC) of M. maripaludis is capable of direct electron uptake and catalyzes rapid H2 and formate formation in electrochemical reactors (-800 mV vs Ag/AgCl) and in Fe(0) corrosion assays. In Fe(0) corrosion assays and electrochemical reactors, purified Hdr-SC primarily catalyzed CO2 reduction to formate with a coulombic efficiency of 90% in the electrochemical cells for 5 days. Thus, this report identified the first enzyme that stably catalyzes the mediator-free electrochemical reduction of CO2 to formate, which can serve as the basis of an enzyme electrode for sustained electrochemical production of formate.

Phosphoric acid plus hydrogen peroxide (PHP) pretreatment was employed on wheat straw for ethanol conversion by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) at high loadings. Results showed solid loading of PHP-pretreated wheat straw can be greatly promoted to 20%. Although more enzyme input improved ethanol conversion significantly, it still can be potentially reduced to 10–20 mg protein/g cellulose. Increasing yeast input also promoted ethanol conversion, however, the responses were not significant. Response surface method was employed to optimize SSF conditions with the strategy of maximizing ethanol conversion and concentration and minimizing enzyme and yeast input. Results indicated that ethanol conversion of 88.2% and concentration of 69.9 g/L were obtained after 120 h SSF at solid loading of 15.3%, and CTec2 enzyme and yeast were in lower input of 13.2 mg protein/g cellulose and 1.0 g/L, respectively. Consequently, 15.5 g ethanol was harvested from 100 g wheat straw in the optimal conditions.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the ability of one versatile peroxidase and the biocatalytically generated complex Mn(III)-malonate to polymerize coniferyl alcohol (CA) to obtain dehydrogenation polymers (DHPs) and to characterize how closely the structures of the formed DHPs resemble native lignin. Hydrogen peroxide was used as oxidant and Mn2+ as mediator. Based on the yields of the polymerized product, it was concluded that the enzymatic reaction should be performed in aqueous solution without organic solvents at 4.5 ≤ pH ≤ 6.0 and with 0.75 ≤ H2 O2 :CA ratio ≤ 1. The results obtained from the Mn3+ -malonate-mediated polymerization showed that the yield was almost 100%. Reaction conditions had, however, effect on the structures of the formed DHPs, as detected by size exclusion chromatography and pyrolysis-GC/MS. It can be concluded that from the structural point of view, the optimal pH for DHP formation using the presently studied system was 3 or 4.5. Low H2 O2 /CA ratio was beneficial to avoid oxidative side reactions. However, the high frequency of β-β linkages in all cases points to dimer formation between monomeric CA rather than endwise polymerization. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 34:81-90, 2018.

MotivationIn the analysis of metabolism using omics data, two distinct and complementary approaches are frequently used: Principal component analysis (PCA) and Stoichiometric flux analysis. PCA is able to capture the main modes of variability in a set of experiments and does not make many prior assumptions about the data, but does not inherently take into account the flux mode structure of metabolism. Stoichiometric flux analysis methods, such as Flux Balance Analysis (FBA) and Elementary Mode Analysis, on the other hand, produce results that are readily interpretable in terms of metabolic flux modes, however, they are not best suited for exploratory analysis on a large set of samples.ResultsWe propose a new methodology for the analysis of metabolism, called Principal Metabolic Flux Mode Analysis (PMFA), which marries the PCA and Stoichiometric flux analysis approaches in an elegant regularized optimization framework. In short, the method incorporates a variance maximization objective form PCA coupled with a Stoichiometric regularizer, which penalizes projections that are far from any flux modes of the network. For interpretability, we also introduce a sparse variant of PMFA that favours flux modes that contain a small number of reactions. Our experiments demonstrate the versatility and capabilities of our methodology.AvailabilityMatlab software for PMFA and SPMFA is available in https://github.com/ aalto-ics-kepaco/PMFA.Contactsahely@iitpkd.ac.in, juho.rousu@aalto.fi, Peter.Blomberg@vtt.fi, Sandra.Castillo@vtt.fiSupplementary informationDetailed results are in Supplementary files. Supplementary data are available at https://github.com/aalto-ics-kepaco/PMFA/blob/master/Results.zip.

Herein, we describe a new method of assessing the kinetics of dissolution of single fibers by dissolution under limited dissolving conditions. The dissolution is followed by optical microscopy under limited dissolving conditions. Videos of the dissolution were processed in Image) to yield kinetics for dissolution, based on the disappearance of pixels associated with intact fibers. Data processing was performed using the Python language, utilizing available scientific libraries. The methods of processing the data include clustering of the single fiber data, identifying clusters associated with different fiber types, producing average dissolution traces and also extraction of practical parameters, such as, time taken to dissolve 25, SO, 75, 95, and 99.5% of the clustered fibers. In addition to these simple parameters, exponential fitting was also performed yielding rate constants for fiber dissolution. Fits for sample and cluster averages were variable, although demonstrating first-order kinetics for dissolution overall. To illustrate this process, two reference pulps (a bleached softwood kraft pulp and a bleached hardwood pre hydrolysis kraft pulp) and their cellulase-treated versions were analyzed. As expected, differences in the kinetics and dissolution mechanisms between these samples were observed. Our initial interpretations are presented, based on the combined mechanistic observations and single fiber dissolution kinetics for these different samples. While the dissolution mechanisms observed were similar to those published previously, the more direct link of mechanistic information with the kinetics improve our understanding of cell wall structure and pre-treatments, toward improved processability.

Clay minerals are versatile materials with numerous industrial applications. Their unique layered structure can act as a host for many optically active species. The synthesis and luminescence properties of chlorohectorite clays are now reported for the first time. The synthesized clays are composed of quasi-circular nanoparticles with diameters around 20–30 nm showing blue/green emission and persistent luminescence with a duration of ca. 5 s. The luminescence features are associated with titanium impurities in the chlorohectorite structure. It is shown that Ti can act as activator ion even at low concentrations: the XRF and ICP-MS measurements of the chlorohectorite materials indicate a Ti concentration around 60 ppm originating from the precursors. The XPS measurements of the clay materials showed the Ti 2p3/2 signals at 457.8 and 458.9 eV associated with Ti3+ and TiIV, respectively. The excitation spectra confirm Ti3+ as the luminescent center in the chlorohectorites through the bands at 287 and 370 nm, related to the e − ( O 2 − ( 2 p ) ) → Ti IV charge transfer and the electronic transitions from the t2g to eg levels of Ti3+, respectively. The persistent luminescence properties are due to structural defects common for layered silicates.

BACKGROUNDThis study elaborates the possibility to apply combined ionic liquid (IL) and enzyme treatments for pulp fibre modification. The approach involves swelling of fibre surfaces with IL followed by enzymatic modification of the disrupted fibre surface using carbohydrate active enzymes. RESULTSThe capacity of seven cellulose-dissolving or cellulose-swelling ionic liquids to swell pulp fibres was compared. In addition, thirteen cellulases and five xylanases were screened for their IL tolerance, which determines their applicability in combined or sequential IL-enzyme treatments of fibres. Among the studied ionic liquids, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium dimethylphosphate ([EMIM]DMP) and 1,3-dimethylimidazolium dimethylphosphate ([DMIM]DMP) had the strongest effect on fibre swelling. These solvents were also found to be the least inactivating for the studied enzymes. CONCLUSIONEnzyme compatibility and cellulose-dissolving capability are not two conflicting properties of an ionic liquid. (c) 2017 Society of Chemical Industry

Sugarcane biorefineries, despite their contribution to sustainable transportation fuels and mitigation of carbon emissions in the mobility sector, produce a large amount of carbon dioxide in their conversion processes. According to the Paris climate agreement, a carbon neutral energy system has to be launched in the years to come, and in this scenario, greenhouse gases emission free industrial processes and alternative carbon sources will be needed. Therefore, this paper presents the evaluation of carbon mass balance of a typical Brazilian ethanol mill to better understand its potential for energy and carbon yield improvement. Due to the fact that Brazilian sugarcane mills are evolving from first generation to integrated first and second generation plant, four different scenarios were analysed. For a first generation plant without (S-I) and with conversion of straw to electricity (S-II) and for the integrated plant (S-III), results of carbon mass balance showed that the harvested sugarcane carbon was mainly converted into CO2 and in a smaller proportion into ethanol. In the modelled cases S-I to S-III the conversion of sugarcane carbon into CO2 and ethanol ranged from 41% to 53% and 17%–22%, respectively. Because this carbon amount in the CO2 flows provides an interesting platform to both increase the bioenergy produced and the harvested carbon-to-fuels ratio, a fourth scenario (S-IV) that studies the integration of power-to-gas (PtG) technologies into the mill was also considered. PtG can increase the sugarcane fuels energy content from 9.3 kW/ha to 33.6 kW/ha using 1361.3 MWe of electricity, increasing the amount of sugarcane carbon transformed into sugarcane based fuels to 54% and converting CO2 into a high value added product.

Feather degrading bacteria from birds' nests were characterized to find safe bacterial strains that could be utilized to convert feathers into soluble form and bacterial biomass for feed purposes. Of all tested 571 isolates 122 were keratinolytic. Partial sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene revealed that the keratinolytic isolates represented Proteobacteria (genera Pseudomonas and Stenotrophomonas) and Firmicutes (genera Bacillus, Exiguobacterium, Paenibacillus, Rummeliibacillus, and Sporosarcina). Bacillus cereus group and gram-negative bacterial isolates were not further characterized due to safety concerns related to potential pathogenicity or potential exposure of animals or workers to endotoxins (lipopolysaccharide part of the gram-negative cell wall). Keratinolytic strains showed clear differences in their ability to solubilize feathers with feather weight losses up to 30%. Amino acid composition of feather hydrolysates shifted from feather composition towards more bacterial-like composition. Especially the levels of lysine could be increased in the feather hydrolysate with bacterial fermentation. Feathers can be effectively hydrolyzed with non-pathogenic bacteria without any additional nutrients. The resulting feather hydrolysate is easier to digest than feather material and it has an improved amino acid composition regarding some limiting amino acids. The amino acid content of the final product can be tailored by varying the fermentation time and thus the ratio of bacterial cells to the feather hydrolysate.

Motivation Incorporating gene interaction data into the identification of ‘hit’ genes in genomic experiments is a well-established approach leveraging the ‘guilt by association’ assumption to obtain a network based hit list of functionally related genes. We aim to develop a method to allow for multivariate gene scores and multiple hit labels in order to extend the analysis of genomic screening data within such an approach. Results We propose a Markov random field-based method to achieve our aim and show that the particular advantages of our method compared with those currently used lead to new insights in previously analysed data as well as for our own motivating data. Our method additionally achieves the best performance in an independent simulation experiment. The real data applications we consider comprise of a survival analysis and differential expression experiment and a cell-based RNA interference functional screen. Availability and implementation We provide all of the data and code related to the results in the paper. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

The objective of this study is to propose a novel optical compressibility parameter for porous pharmaceutical tablets. This parameter is defined with the aid of the effective refractive index of a tablet that is obtained from non-destructive and contactless terahertz (THz) time-delay transmission measurement. The optical compressibility parameter of two training sets of pharmaceutical tablets with a priori known porosity and mass fraction of a drug was investigated. Both pharmaceutical sets were compressed with one of the most commonly used excipients, namely microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) and drug Indomethacin. The optical compressibility clearly correlates with the skeletal bulk modulus determined by mercury porosimetry and the recently proposed terahertz lumped structural parameter calculated from terahertz measurements. This lumped structural parameter can be used to analyse the pattern of arrangement of excipient and drug particles in porous pharmaceutical tablets. Therefore, we propose that the optical compressibility can serve as a quality parameter of a pharmaceutical tablet corresponding with the skeletal bulk modulus of the porous tablet, which is related to structural arrangement of the powder particles in the tablet., final draft, peerReviewed

The accurate prediction of the droplet size distribution (DSD) in liquid–liquid turbulent dispersions is of fundamental importance in many industrial applications and it requires suitable kernels in the population balance model. When a surfactant is included in liquid–liquid dispersions, the droplet breakup behavior will change as an effect of the reduction of the interfacial tension. Moreover, also the dynamic interfacial tension may be different with respect to the static, due to the fact that the surfactant may be easily desorbed from the droplet surface, generating additional disruptive stresses. In this work, the performance of five breakup kernels from the literature is assessed, to investigate their ability to predict the time evolution of the DSD and of the mean Sauter diameter, when different surfactants are employed. Simulations are performed with the Quadrature Method of Moments for the solution of the population balance model coupled with the two-fluid model implemented in the compressibleTwoPhaseEulerFoam solver of the open-source computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code OpenFOAM v. 2.2.x. The time evolution of the mean Sauter diameter predicted by these kernels is validated against experimental data for six test cases referring to a stirred tank with different types of surfactants (Tween 20 and PVA 88%) at different concentrations operating under different stirrer rates. Our results show that for the dispersion containing Tween 20 additional stress is generated, the multifractal breakup kernel properly predicts the DSD evolution, whereas two other kernels predict too fast breakup of droplets covered by adsorbed PVA. Kernels derived originally for bubbles completely fail.

Hydrophobic contaminants (stickies) incorporated with recycled fibers cause severe papermaking processing and product quality problems, which lead to low runnability and increased production cost. Stickies negatively affect paper strength and many other properties. In this work, we propose a sustainable approach by the application of soy protein isolate (SPI), soy flour (SF), and soybean lipoxygenase (LOX) as agents to combat hydrophobic contaminants. Tests at the bench and pilot-plant scales and under conditions similar to industrial operations demonstrated the reduction of associated challenges and the improvement of a paper’s dry strength. The soy agents were applied to aqueous dispersions of lignin-free recycled fibers (dosage levels of 1–2% based on the fiber dry weight), which contained additives typically used in papermaking (fillers, sizing agent, and others). Talc, a common detackifier, was applied in similar systems that were used as reference. The proteins were added under both high and low she...