Steps toward a digital twin for functional food production with increased health benefits

Lactobacillus rhamnosus (L. rhamnosus) is a commensal bacterium with health-promoting properties and with a wide range of applications within the food industry. To improve and optimize the control of L. rhamnosus biomass production in batch and fed-batch bioprocesses, this study proposes the application of artificial neural network (ANN) modelling to improve process control and monitoring, with potential future implementation as a basis for a digital twin.Three ANNs were developed using historical data from ten bioprocesses. These ANNs were designed to predict the biomass in batch bioprocesses with different media compositions, predict biomass in fed-batch bioprocesses, and predict the growth rate in fed-batch bioprocesses.The immunomodulatory effect of the L. rhamnosus samples was examined and found to elicit an anti-inflammatory response as evidenced by the inhibition of IL-6 and TNF-α secretion.Overall, the findings of this study reinforce the potential of ANN modelling for bioprocess optimization aimed at improved control for maximising the volumetric productivity of L. rhamnosus as an immunomodulatory agent with applications in the functional food industry

A review of polylactic acid as a replacement material for single-use laboratory components

Every year, the EU emits 13.4 Mt of CO2 solely from plastic production, with 99% of all plastics being produced from fossil fuel sources, while those that are produced from renewable sources use food products as feedstocks. In 2019, 29 Mt of plastic waste was collected in Europe. It is estimated that 32% was recycled, 43% was incinerated and 25% was sent to landfill. It has been estimated that life-sciences (biology, medicine, etc.) alone create plastic waste of approximately 5.5 Mt/yr, the majority being disposed of by incineration. The vast majority of this plastic waste is made from fossil fuel sources, though there is a growing interest in the possible use of bioplastics as a viable alternative for single-use lab consumables, such as petri dishes, pipette tips, etc. However, to-date only limited bioplastic replacement examples exist. In this review, common polymers used for labware are discussed, along with examining the possibility of replacing these materials with bioplastics, specifically polylactic acid (PLA). The material properties of PLA are described, along with possible functional improvements dure to additives. Finally, the standards and benchmarks needed for assessing bioplastics produced for labware components are reviewed

Stability and rheological study on carbon-based nanofluids

In this study, an organic derived nanofluid has been developed from bio-origin resources. Carbon nanopowder (CNP) is obtained from derived rice husk and was prepared via a simple two-steps thermal process with minimum energy (low temperature and reaction time) using solar assisted plasma furnace. Nanofluids comprised of CNP and EG/water binary mixture has been prepared at various concentration such as 0.02 – 0.10 vol% of CNP. Flow curve of nanofluids showed that at minimum inclusion of CNP improved the stress of the fluid significantly. More to the addition, dynamic viscosity measure possesses that addition of CNP stabilized the properties of the fluid compared to virgin base fluid. Moreover, the stability results showed that the nanofluids stabilized starting from 1 week onwards as evidenced by UV-Visible spectrophotometer analysis. Furthermore, little to no precipitate noticed even after 8 weeks. This work offers greener approach for nanofluids which organic derived and environmentally friendly (very low percentage of nanoparticle, 0.02 vol%