Automatic system for the determination of boron in ceramic frits

An automatic system for the potentiometric determination of boron in ceramic frits was developed. The system includes a personal computer for instrumental control, data acquisition and processing, which allows up to 13 samples to be analysed sequentially with no human intervention

Storage of canola in hermetic plastic bags

Due to the small size of the seed, canola (Brassica napus or Brassica campestris) offers different challenges in the harvest and the subsequent post-harvest operations. Often, in Argentina, farmers do not have enough permanent storage capacity so they overcome this deficit with the use of hermetic plastic bags (silobags). The objectives of this work were: 1) Determine the feasibility of the bagging and extraction processes of canola. 2) Monitoring the condition of canola by periodic measurement of carbon dioxide (CO2), temperature, moisture content (m.c.) and quality of the grain. Thirty tonnes of canola with initial m.c. of 6 % were stored in a silobag in the southeast of the Buenos Aires province, Argentina. The storage period was extended from November 2008 to November 2009. The variables measured every two weeks were CO2 concentration, m.c. and grain quality parameters, such as foreign matters, fat acidity and fat content. The temperature and relative humidity (r.h.) of the interstitial air inside the bag and of the ambient air were also recorded with a frequency of one hour. It was observed that, even the size and characteristics of the canola seeds, it was possible to perform the bagging and extraction operations of canola seeds without problems. The r.h. in the interstitial air remained below 50% along the entire storage period. The temperature of the grain inside the bag followed the monthly average ambient temperature. The CO2 concentration ranged from 1 to 8 %, indicating low to moderate biological activity in the grain mass. The m.c., foreign matters and fat values remained unchanged throughout the storage period. The fat acidity increased during storage in 0.7 % points, reaching a final value of 1.4 %, but did not represent a commercial quality loss. It was concluded that under the conditions of temperature and m.c. evaluated in this study it is possible to store canola in hermetic plastic bags without commercial quality deterioration. Keywords: Silobags, CO2 concentration, Interstitial air, Moisture content, Fat acidity

Storage of quality malting barley in hermetic plastic bags

The main destination of barley grown in Argentina is malt production. The main standard quality parameter for the malting industry is to maintain at least 98% germination percentage (GP). A typical operation is to harvest dry barley (around 12%) and store it in hermetic plastic bags, a temporary storage system of modified atmosphere, until end use in the malting industry. The objective of this study was to determine whether the typical Argentinean storage condition of malting barley in hermetic plastic bags produces a deleterious effect in its commercial and industrial quality. Two plastic bags filled each with 180 tonnes of malting barley were used for this experiment, one with 11% moisture content (m.c.) and the other with a range between 11 and 11.5% m.c. The experiment began immediately after harvest on December 27th (early summer) and lasted for five months. Carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration, grain temperature, m.c., protein and GP were evaluated every 2 wk. GP did not substantially decrease during the entire storage period for both bags, but samples with higher m.c. had the lowest GP. The protein percentage remained stable throughout the entire evaluation period for both bags. The maximum value of CO2 in the bag with 11% m.c. was 4.4%. The bag with the higher range of m.c. had a maximum CO2 value of 13%, and this high concentration was associated to a small portion of spoiled grain, presumably due to rain water entering the bag through perforations in the plastic cover at the bottom of the bag. It was concluded that it is safe to store quality malting barley with 12% m.c. or less in hermetic plastic bags for five months. Keywords: Silobag, Grain, CO2, Germinatio