Study on Processing of Clear Banana Juice Using Hot Water Extraction Method

In this study, the effects of hot water temperature on clarity, total soluble solids, polyphenol oxidase （PPO） and color of banana juice during hot water ex-traction were discussed based on the theory in which heat treatment might induce the pectin and protein in banana pulp to form insoluble products. The results showed the hot water temperature had a significant effect on the formation of insol-uble polymers in banana pulp from pectin and protein. In 75 ℃ water, the pectin and protein in banana pulp were most inclined to form insoluble products. Under this condition, the clarity of banana juice was also highest. The light transmittance at 660 nm was close to 90%. In the banana juice, extracted by 75 ℃ water, the pectin and protein contents were lowest, and they were lower than 7.3 mg/100 ml and 12.9 mg/100 ml respectively. The 75 ℃ water could not inactivate completely the pectin in banana pulp due to its high heat resistance, Therefore, 0.05% L-cys-teine or ascorbic acid needed to be added into banana pulp to inhibit the browning of juice induced by residual PPO.

Effect of hot-water extraction of sugar maple on organosolv delignification and lignin recovery

This paper reported a gradual disassembly of the chemical components of hardwood,starting with hot-water extraction(HWE)for the removal of hemicelluloses,followed by organosolv delignification to remove the lignin.Under mild acid conditions,in addition to hemicelluloses,lower molecular weight lignin fractions were removed(~15%of the total lignin)in the HWE pre-treatment;also,the cleavage of the acid-labile lignin-carbohydrate bond took place to some extent.As a result,the HWE pretreatment promoted the subsequent delignification process and facilitated the lignin recovery from the spent liquor,in terms of higher delignification efficiency and higher purity of the lignin recovered from the spent liquor.The effects of the HWE pre-treatment prior to the delignification process were investigated in this study for both the oxygen-pressurized acetone-water(AWO)and the ALCELL processes,with focuses on the delignification efficiency and the properties of the lignin recovered from the process spent liquor.

Different Carbon Fractions in Soils and Their Relationship with Trace Elements Content

Luvisols, Stagnogleys and Cambisols, although less fertile, are used intensively for mixed farming, grazing and as forestland. Therefore we aimed our study at determination of total organic carbon （TOC） content, humic substances （HS） content, humic acids （HA） content, fulvic acids （FA）, hot water extractable carbon （Chw） content and content total and labile trace elements content. Humic substances quality was assessed by HA/FA ratio and by coloured indexes measured in ultraviolet and visible UV-VIS spectral range. The total and labile contents of Zn, Cd, Cu, Co, Pb, Mo and Se were determined by flame or electro-thermal atomic absorption spectrometry after extraction of the soil samples in the aqua regia （total content） and in the solution of 0.01 M CaCI2. Total and labile trace elements content was correlated with determined carbon fractions and soil reaction. Results showed that studied soils content low amount of TOC and had low quality of humic substances. HA/FA ratio was less than 1 and colour indexes were higher than 4. All determined carbon fractions correlated with labile form of Zn and Cd. Correlation between soil reaction and total zinc content was found. Significant effect of humic substances content on to water-soluble forms of heavy metals was detected.

The effect of hemicellulose on the interparticle frictional behavior of lignocellulosic biomass particulates

Lignocellulosic biomass material sourced from plants and herbaceous sources is considered as a prospective feedstock of inexpensive,potentially carbon-neutral energy.Lignocellulosic biomass is structurally built on cellulose,hemicellulose,and lignin,which are present in varying concentrations based on the feedstock type and play distinct and not well understood mechanical functions in the flow behavior.The frictional characteristics of lignocellulosic biomass particulates influence their flow behavior in biorefineries.Thus,it is important to fundamentally investigate the relative contribution of cellulose,hemicellulose,and lignin to the frictional behavior.However,these three biopolymers are interwoven into a complex matrix in the lignocellulosic biomass,thus making it hard to quantify the contribution of each biopolymer.In this study,we selectively remove hemicellulose from switchgrass and investigate the effects of its diminishing concentration on the coefficient of friction.We observed that the angle of repose and,therefore,the coefficient of friction for a loose assembly of the control and treated switchgrass samples decrease with decreasing hemicellulose content.This indicates the frictional resistance to flow for biomass particulate assemblies is at least proportional to the hemicellulose content.We also established that the observed changes in the frictional behavior were not due to particle morphological characteristics.