Microencapsulation technology for delivery of enzymes in ruminant feed.

The ruminant digestive system is uniquely designed to make efficient use of high-fibre feed, including forages. Between 40 to 100% of the ruminant diet consists of forages which are high in fibre and up to 70% of this may remain undigested in the ruminant gut, with substantial impact on feed utilisation rate and productivity and the economic and environmental sustainability of livestock production systems. In ruminants, feed costs can make up to 70% of the overall cost of producing an animal product.

Coffee brewing sonoreactor for reducing the time of cold brew from several hours to minutes while maintaining sensory attributes.

This research designed and developed an ultrasonic reactor for a fast and on demand production of cold brew coffee, remarkably reducing the brewing time from 24 h to less than 3 min. The technology was engineered by utilizing resonance to induce ultrasonic waves around the walls of the brewing basket of an espresso machine. The sound transmission system comprised a transducer, a horn and a brewing basket.

A review on plasma-activated water and its application in the meat industry.

Meat is a nutritious food with a short shelf life, making it challenging to ensure safety, quality, and nutritional value. Foodborne pathogens and oxidation are the main concerns that lead to health risks and economic losses. Conventional approaches like hot water, steam pasteurization, and chemical washes for meat decontamination improve safety but cause nutritional and quality issues.

The antimicrobial effects of mist spraying and immersion on beef samples with plasma-activated water.

The use of plasma-activated water (PAW) as an antimicrobial agent to inactivate Salmonella Typhimurium on chilled beef during meat washing was evaluated. Two meat washing methods, spraying and immersion, were evaluated at contact times of 15, 30 and 60 s and meat storage times of 0, 1 and 7 days. The temperature of PAW was elevated to 55 °C for washing as it increased the microbial inactivation compared to ambient temperature.

Special Issue of the Manufacturing Engineering Society 2021 (SIMES-2021).

After the complete success of the first [...

A Response Surface Methodology (RSM) Approach for Optimizing the Attenuation of Human IgE-Reactivity to β-Lactoglobulin (β-Lg) by Hydrostatic High Pressure Processing.

The response surface methodology (RSM) and central composite design (CCD) technique were used to optimize the three key process parameters (i.e., pressure, temperature and holding time) of the high-hydrostatic-pressure (HHP) processing either standalone or combined with moderate thermal processing to modulate molecular structures of β-lactoglobulin (β-Lg) and α-lactalbumin (α-La) with reduced human IgE-reactivity.

Influence of Molecular Weight Distribution on the Thermoresponsive Transition of Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide).

A series of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAm) homopolymers with narrow molecular weight distributions (MWDs) is prepared via photoinduced electron/energy transfer-reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (PET-RAFT) polymerization. The thermal transition temperature of these polymer samples is analyzed via turbidity measurements in water/N,N'-dimethylformamide mixtures, which show that the cloud point temperatures are inversely proportional to the weight average molecular weight (M ). Binary mixtures of the narrowly distributed PNIPAm samples are also prepared and the statistical parameters for the MWDs of these blends are determined.

Microwave pre-treatment of canola seeds and flaked seeds for increased hot expeller oil yield.

Microwave (MW) pre-treatment of canola seeds or flaked seeds was found to be a superior alternative to the conventional thermal pre-treatment (steam). Flaked seeds were "cooked" (heat-treated) with steam or using microwave treatments in the temperature range of 62-130 °C prior to expeller pressing. Microwave cooking at 100 °C resulted in the highest increase in the pressed oil yield, which is an increase of 3.

A strict formulation of a nonlinear Helmholtz equation for the propagation of sound in bubbly liquids. Part II: Application to ultrasonic cavitation.

This paper addresses one of the greatest challenges in sonochemistry that has impaired scaling up ultrasonic processes, which is the lack of models capable of predicting the pressure distribution in sonoreactors. This work studies the effect of acoustic pressure on the transmission of sound thought cavitating bubbly liquids by utilizing the nonlinear Helmholtz equation that was demonstrated on the paper part I. The model showed that the wave number and the attenuation can be estimated from the bubble dynamics of inertial bubbles and the local bubble density.

Brewing coffee? - Ultra-sonication has clear beneficial effects on the extraction of key volatile aroma components and triglycerides.

Ultrasound has been investigated as a new technique for brewing coffee. A two-level factorial experimental design was conducted to identify the effects of ultra-sonication on the extraction of coffee components during ultrasonically-assisted coffee brewing. Different brews were produced by aqueous extraction from roasted ground coffee beans with sonication, and without it as a control, by varying coffee concentration (5% and 10% w/w), temperature (25 and 50 °C) and sonication time (1 and 5 min).

Numerical and experimental investigation of pulse bubble aeration with high packing density hollow-fibre MBRs.

A three-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model was developed to study shear stress induced by spherical cap bubbles in hollow fibre (HF) membrane modules configured with a packing density of 38 m/m, to predict the shear profile in a commercial hollow fibre membrane module of 265 m/m. The CFD model's computational effort was minimised by simulating the formation of bubble structures and their rising velocities in modules with packing densities of 1.8 and 38 m/m and validated with experimental calibration of shear profiles via electro-diffusion methods (EDM).

A strict formulation of a nonlinear Helmholtz equation for the propagation of sound in bubbly liquids. Part I: Theory and validation at low acoustic pressure amplitudes.

This paper strictly demonstrated a nonlinear Helmholtz equation, with its corresponding new expressions for the wave number of the mixture, for the propagation of sound trough a bubbly liquid. The demonstration was conducted under the assumption of periodicity of volume fluctuations, the acoustic approximation and considering only mono-harmonic pressure oscillations. The model revealed a beautiful symmetry between the average acoustic energy density and the average energy dissipation, as well as between the time average of the first and second derivatives of such fluctuations.

Inactivation kinetics of Escherichia coli in cranberry juice during multistage treatment by electric fields.

The inactivation of Escherichia coli inoculated in cranberry juice by processing with radio frequency electric fields was studied. E. coli ATCC 35218 was chosen among three non-pathogenic strains based on its ability to survive in low pH cranberry juice.

Hardening Effect Analysis by Modular Upper Bound and Finite Element Methods in Indentation of Aluminum, Steel, Titanium and Superalloys.

The application of incremental processes in the manufacturing industry is having a great development in recent years. The first stage of an Incremental Forming Process can be defined as an indentation. Because of this, the indentation process is starting to be widely studied, not only as a hardening test but also as a forming process.

Experimental Parametric Model for Indirect Adhesion Wear Measurement in the Dry Turning of UNS A97075 (Al-Zn) Alloy.

In this work, the study of the influence of cutting parameters (cutting speed, feed, and depth of cut) on the tool wear used in in the dry turning of cylindrical bars of the UNS A97075 (Al-Zn) alloy, has been analyzed. In addition, a study of the physicochemical mechanisms of the secondary adhesion wear has been carried out. The behavior of this alloy, from the point of view of tool wear, has been compared to similar aeronautical aluminum alloys, such as the UNS A92024 (Al-Cu) alloy and UNS A97050 (Al-Zn) alloy.

A new pressure formulation for gas-compressibility dampening in bubble dynamics models.

We formulated a pressure equation for bubbles performing nonlinear radial oscillations under ultrasonic high pressure amplitudes. The proposed equation corrects the gas pressure at the gas-liquid interface on inertial bubbles. This pressure formulation, expressed in terms of gas-Mach number, accounts for dampening due to gas compressibility during the violent collapse of cavitation bubbles and during subsequent rebounds.

Separation of suspensions and emulsions via ultrasonic standing waves - a review.

Ultrasonic standing waves (USW) separation is an established technology for micro scale applications due to the excellent control to manipulate particles acoustically achieved when combining high frequency ultrasound with laminar flow in microchannels, allowing the development of numerous applications. Larger scale systems (pilot to industrial) are emerging; however, scaling up such processes are technologically very challenging. This paper reviews the physical principles that govern acoustic particle/droplet separation and the mathematical modeling techniques developed to understand, predict, and design acoustic separation processes.

Multiphysics modelling of the separation of suspended particles via frequency ramping of ultrasonic standing waves.

A model was developed to determine the local changes of concentration of particles and the formations of bands induced by a standing acoustic wave field subjected to a sawtooth frequency ramping pattern. The mass transport equation was modified to incorporate the effect of acoustic forces on the concentration of particles. This was achieved by balancing the forces acting on particles.

A computational modeling approach of the jet-like acoustic streaming and heat generation induced by low frequency high power ultrasonic horn reactors.

High power ultrasound reactors have gained a lot of interest in the food industry given the effects that can arise from ultrasonic-induced cavitation in liquid foods. However, most of the new food processing developments have been based on empirical approaches. Thus, there is a need for mathematical models which help to understand, optimize, and scale up ultrasonic reactors.