Innovative ultrasound-assisted approaches towards reduction of heavy metals and Iodine in macroalgal biomass

The aim of this work was to evaluate the potential of ultrasound (US), alone or in combination with mild heating and/or EDTA towards reduction of As, Cd, I, and Hg content of Laminaria hyperborea. Concentrations of As, Cd, I, and Hg of 56.29, 0.596, 7340, and <0.01 mg kg−1 of dry weight, respectively, were found in L. hyperborea blades. Treatment with US at 50 °C increased approx. 2-fold the amount of As released, although did not affect significantly the content of Cd or I, as compared to control (no US) samples. Reducing the temperature to 8 °C significantly decreased the effect of US, but heating at 80 °C did not cause a significant effect as compared to treatments at 50 °C. On the other hand, treatment with 0.1 N EDTA at 50 °C enhanced the percentage of Cd released by approximately 7-fold, regardless of sonication. In the present work, the combination of US and EDTA at 50 °C for 5 min led to a significant reduction of the As (32%), Cd (52%) and I (31%) content in L. hyperborea, thus improving the product’s safety for consumers

Differences in chewing sounds of dry crisp snacks by multivariate data analysis

The sounds emitted during chewing of dry crisp snacks could be successfully applied to distinguish different snack types, using FFT and multivariate data analysis techniques. The classification was improved by taking the logarithm of the power spectra for further analysis. Different people produced different sound spectra, which makes recalibration of the model necessary when a new chewer is used as 'measuring instrument'. Multi-way models distinguished better between chewing sounds of different snack types than PCA on bite or chew separately and than unfold PLS. From all three-way models applied, N-PLS with 3 components showed the best classification capabilities, resulting in classification errors of 14-18%. The major amount of incorrect classifications was due to one type of potato chips that had a very irregular shape, resulting in a wide variation of the emitted sounds

Faba bean lignocellulosic sidestream as a filler for the development of biodegradable packaging

In this work, bio-composites were produced using faba bean sidestream (stems, pods and mixed stems and pods) as a filler to a bio-based and biodegradable polymer blend of Poly(butylene succinate-co-adipate)/Poly(hydroxy butyrate-co-valerate) (PBSA/PHBV, ratio 85/15). The faba bean sidestream was added at 10, 20, and 30 % wt. to the PBSA/PHBV matrix. The bio-composite pellets were compounded by a twin-screw extruder and the pellets were further processed into tensile rods by injection moulding and into bio-composite films by film extrusion. The mechanical, barrier, thermal and morphological properties of the bio-composite films and injection moulded specimens were evaluated. The tensile stress at maximum force and Young's modulus of the injection moulded specimens increased with an increase in fibre loading, with the bio-composite containing 30% fibres showing the largest increase in relation to the neat blend. The increase in tensile stress suggests good interfacial adhesion between the polymer matrix and the fibres as evidenced by scanning electron microscope. However, a decrease in tensile strain and impact strength was observed with an increase in fibre loading. With the addition of 20 and 30% of fibres, the oxygen transmission rate decreased by 29 and 52% respectively in relation with the neat blend, while there was no statistical significance in the water vapour transmission rate of the bio-composite containing 20 and 30% fibres in relation to the neat blend. The study demonstrated that PBSA/PHBV composited with faba bean sidestream are processible by both injection moulding and film extrusion with balanced mechanical and barrier properties for potential application in food packaging as flexible films or for rigid packaging