Integrated marketing communications : suitability in B2B markets : the case of the brand DaTerra

As it is often said: “If you don’t see it, it doesn’t exist”. In this sense, the relevant choice of promotion tools has gained importance as a differentiating instrument for companies, in order to become popular and acquire a solid degree of reputation and status. Being the choice of more relational communication tools quite common among business markets, it is starting to be questioned if the use of those tools is sufficient alone or, if it is reasonable for business actors to reach out to other communication instruments typically used in consumer markets. This dissertation focuses, firstly, on the specificities of business markets, the communication molds within this field and the changing views regarding this matter, based on studies of other authors. Secondly, there will be an analysis to the promotion practices of a business-to-business brand that operates within the homeware industry, in light of good practices studied. Thirdly, it is discussed the appropriateness of communication channels outside businesses comfort zone – namely public relations and interactive marketing – highlighting the relevance of an integrated marketing communications’ approach. Finally, some suggestions regarding the brand’s current promotion strategy are proposed, which overall manifest themselves in potential gains in terms of brand awareness. The results show that there is a tendency to focus on somewhat more relational communication tools and, thus, facing the nature of the business, it is recommended to the company under study the continuous usage of those instruments. Nevertheless, there is also evidence of room for improvement, namely, the parallel (integrated) use of promotion tools characteristic of consumer markets

Cellulose from sugarcane bagasse as a potential prebiotic agent

Organic farming practices have been slowly replacing intensive agriculture with the use of plant growth promoting bacteria as key factor, as these bacteria interact effectively with plants and increase crop yields. However, despite the potential of bioinoculants, its usage in agriculture is still limited as their efficacy also depends upon other abiotic factors such as the soil type and its nutrients. A novel approach to bypass this limitation is the introduction of prebiotic agents to increase the richness of the soil and thus promote bacterial growth (Arif et., al 2020). Among the possible alternatives for soil supplementation, cellulose constitutes one of the best choices, as it is a renewable carbon source, widely abundant in nature and for which a great number of microorganisms produce enzymes. The aim of this work is to evaluate the prebiotic potential of cellulose, extracted from sugarcane bagasse, as prebiotic agent. To that end, cellulose was firstly extracted from sugarcane bagasse through an optimized procedure comprising an alkaline extraction with sodium hydroxide followed by a bleaching process with hydrogen peroxide. The capacity to promote the growth (prebiotic effect) of three soil representative microorganisms and nitrogen fixators i.e., Rhodococcus sp. EC35, Pseudomonas azotoformans and Chryseobacterium humi was evaluated for two cellulose extracts (i.e., raw cellulose and cellulose pulp) obtained from sugarcane bagasse. The results showed that the extraction process yielded ca. 63% and 42% for raw cellulose and cellulose pulp, respectively, being both extracts effective as prebiotic agents for the target microorganisms. Growth rates of 38 and 68% for Rhodococcus sp., and of 67 and 84% for C. humi was found for cellulose pulp and raw cellulose, respectively. On the other hand, for P. azotoformans, raw cellulose had no impact upon the growth rate, while cellulose pulp lead to a small decrease (ca. 7%). When comparing this data with the obtained for a standard cellulose from Sigma, it was possible to observe that the commercial cellulose was, in general, less effective as an environmental prebiotic as it only exhibited significant effects in the growth of C. humi. These results showed the potential of sugarcane bagasse as source of a natural bioinocula with prebiotic effect, thus potentiating the valorization of an industrial byproduct with low commercial value into a product with biological effect on soils supplementation.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Cellulose from sugarcane bagasse as a potential prebiotic agent

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Comparative study of green and traditional routes for cellulose extraction from a sugarcane by-product

Sugarcane bagasse (SCB) is the main residue of the sugarcane industry and a promising renewable and sustainable lignocellulosic material. The cellulose component of SCB, present at 40–50%, can be used to produce value-added products for various applications. Herein, we present a comprehensive and comparative study of green and traditional approaches for cellulose extraction from the by-product SCB. Green methods of extraction (deep eutectic solvents, organosolv, and hydrothermal processing) were compared to traditional methods (acid and alkaline hydrolyses). The impact of the treatments was evaluated by considering the extract yield, chemical profile, and structural properties. In addition, an evaluation of the sustainability aspects of the most promising cellulose extraction methods was performed. Among the proposed methods, autohydrolysis was the most promising approach in cellulose extraction, yielding 63.5% of a solid fraction with ca. 70% cellulose. The solid fraction showed a crystallinity index of 60.4% and typical cellulose functional groups. This approach was demonstrated to be environmentally friendly, as indicated by the green metrics assessed (E(nvironmental)-factor = 0.30 and Process Mass Intensity (PMI) = 20.5). Autohydrolysis was shown to be the most cost-effective and sustainable approach for the extraction of a cellulose-rich extract from SCB, which is extremely relevant for aiming the valorization of the most abundant by-product of the sugarcane industry.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Design of green routes for cellulose extraction from a sugarcane by-product

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio