Production of fish protein hydrolysates step by step: technological aspects,equipment used,major energy costs and methods of their minimizing

Nowadays, there is a growing interest on how to utilize fish materials remaining from the main production and considered as unappropriated for a direct human consumption. There are numbers of possible solutions to recover valuable nutrients from that matter and one of the most efficient is the production of fish protein hydrolysate. This article is devoted to overview existing information about the production of dried fish protein hydrolysates with a focus on dehydration process during production and equipment used for moisture removal. Drying step of the production is considered as the most energy demanding and, therefore, described in detail. Questions considering energy demands of the drying are highlighted in the article together with the proposals for the improvement of energy efficiency. This work also describes source of the raw material, the main steps of the technological scheme with the equipment used and valuable information on the intermediate state of fish protein hydrolysate between the process operations.     

Effects of flax lignin addition on enzymatic oxidation of poly(ethylene adipate) urethanes

Lignin use in polymer industry has recently become very attractive from both economical and environmental reasons. In the specific case of blending, the addition of low lignin amounts was found to improve the properties and extends the application field of other natural or synthetic polymers, but the effects of oxidative enzymes on resulting blends are widely unknown. Thereby, the current study was carried out to determine some potential effects of small flax lignin concentrations (4.2 and 9.3 wt%) on the enzymatic degradation of a poly(ethylene adipate) urethane (PU). Thin cast films of PU and its lignin blends were incubated for 3 days at 30 °C with buffered solutions of fungal peroxidase and laccase extracted from Aspergillus sp., and compared with the untreated ones. Changes in surface structure and morphology were investigated by attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), while the impact on bulk was assessed from tensile tests and thermogravimetry analysis (TGA). Although the addition of flax lignin reduces the surface structural modifications after enzyme treatment, the morphology, tensile and thermo-oxidative characteristics are still affected, with laccase showing the higher degradative efficiency. The lignin concentration, its high impact on the resulting blends morphology and relative low resistance to laccase and peroxidase degradation was the most important factors proved to driven the enzymatic oxidation.     

Assessing the biological activity of oil-contaminated soddy-podzolic soils with different textures

The respiratory activity features in oil-contaminated soddy-podzolic soils of different textures have been studied. Unidirectional processes occur in contaminated loamy and loamy sandy soddy-podzolic soils; their intensities depend on the soil parameters. The mineralization rates of the oil products and the activity of the microflora in loamy soils exceed the corresponding parameters for loamy sandy soils. The long-term impact of oil and its transformation products results in more important disturbances of the microbial community in light soils. It has been shown that light soils containing 9% oil require longer time periods or more intensive remediation measures for the restoration of soil microbial cenoses disturbed by the pollutant.     

Morphological aspects of polymer fiber mats obtained by air flow rotary-jet spinning

Fiber mats were obtained by using a modified rotary-jet spinning system, which allows a forced air flow produced by an air compressor to interfere with the polymer jets. The main focus of current studies rely on the range of morphological and dimensional characteristics of fibers that may be expected when using this new technical setup of a rotary-jet based spinning system. In fact, this work represents a proof of concept study regarding the potential of an air flow modified rotary-jet spinning for obtaining continuous fibers and nonwoven mats. The morphological examinations by scanning electron microscopy were proved the efficiency of this technique on obtaining relative homogeneous fiber mats from different raw compositions of pure and admixed, natural and synthetic polymers with different molecular masses and polydispersity degrees, like gelatin, polyurethane, and poly (vinyl chloride). The feasibility of air flow rotary-jet spinning was also tested for simultaneous independent deposition of mixed fiber mats from solutions of two polymers made in different solvents, and it was found that by carefully selecting the ratio of polymers through spinnerets number, this technique could be successfully used even in difficult solvent conditions otherwise incompatible with traditional spinning techniques. The distribution of fiber diameters was varying between nanometer scales (100–700 nm) in the case of pure polyurethane and micrometer ranges (2–12 µm) for gelatin-polyurethane mixed mats, which are convenient for various applications, from dressings and scaffolding to different filter systems. Besides the already known advantages of rotary-jet versus electrospinning, the air flow allows the control of solvent evaporation, extending the applicative range of this technique.     

Evaluation of the respiration activity of leached chernozems under soil-conservation technologies of crop cultivation

The characteristics of the respiration activity of leached chernozems under different land uses were studied. The use of soil-conservation technologies of crop cultivation led to an increase in the basal and substrate-induced respiration and in the content of the carbon of the microbial biomass. With respect to the microbial activity and the sustainability of the microbial pool, the soils were arranged into the following order: virgin soils → soils treated with soil-conservation technologies → soils treated with traditional methods.     

Development of a robotic detection system for greenhouse pepper plant diseases

Automation of disease detection and monitoring can facilitate targeted and timely disease control, which can lead to increased yield, improved crop quality and reduction in the quantity of applied pesticides. Further advantages are reduced production costs, reduced exposure to pesticides for farm workers and inspectors and increased sustainability. Symptoms are unique for each disease and crop, and each plant may suffer from multiple threats. Thus, a dedicated integrated disease-detection system and algorithms are required. The development of such a robotic detection system for two major threats of bell pepper plants: powdery mildew (PM) and Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), is presented. Detection algorithms were developed based on principal component analysis using RGB and multispectral NIR-R-G sensors. High accuracy was obtained for pixel classification as diseased or healthy, for both diseases, using RGB imagery (PM: 95%, TSWV: 90%). NIR-R-G multispectral imagery yielded low classification accuracy (PM: 80%, TSWV: 61%). Accordingly, the final sensing apparatus was composed of a RGB sensor and a single-laser-beam distance sensor. A relatively fast cycle time (average 26.7 s per plant) operation cycle for detection of the two diseases was developed and tested. The cycle time was mainly influenced by sub-tasks requiring motion of the manipulator. Among these tasks, the most demanding were the determination of the required detection position and orientation. The time for task completion may be reduced by increasing the robotic work volume and by improving the algorithm for determining position and orientation.