Coagulation Conditions Research Articles

Innovative Approaches to Camembert Cheese: Optimizing Prebiotics and Coagulation Conditions for Enhanced Quality and Nutrition

The objective of this study is to investigate how different factors, such as lactic acid bacteria, prebiotics (flaxseed powder, watercress seed powder, okra mucilage), and coagulation temperature influence the final quality of curd by conducting three optimization experiments and implementing a structured experimental plan. In the first phase, milk coagulation was assessed at 45 °C with various combinations of lactic acid bacteria (probiotics) and prebiotics (powdered flaxseed and watercress). In the second investigation phase, the effects of lowered probiotic and prebiotic (powdered flaxseed and watercress) concentrations were examined at the coagulation temperature of 38 °C. We investigated the concentration of lactic acid bacteria at 3 mg/mL of milk and the effects of temperature and prebiotics (okra mucilage and flaxseed powder). We observed short milk clotting time (2 s) using the optimized mixture (0.18 mg of probiotics, 1.5 mg of flaxseed powder, and 1.147 mg of watercress powder) per 10 mL of milk. It contrasts with the classical coagulation way optimized at (5.9 and 9.5 s), which were generated at optimal temperatures of 45 and 45.7 °C, respectively. Our new mixture improves the fermentation process of camembert cheese at 38 °C. This cheese had a high flavonoid content, fewer lactic bacteria and molds, a homogeneous texture, and no outer crust, and exceptional sensory attributes such as a creamy and fluid paste. These attributes suggest its potential benefits as a dairy product for individuals with cardiovascular and gastrointestinal conditions.

Effect of Coagulation Conditions on the Radial Moduli of Polyacrylonitrile Nascent Fibers

Effect of Coagulation Conditions on the Radial Moduli of Polyacrylonitrile Nascent Fibers

Magnetic seed technology for the efficient removal of nitrogen from wastewater

Nitrogen pollution is a global issue impacting ecosystems, climate change, human health, and the economy. The challenge to reduce nitrogen pollution as a priority highlights the wastewater treatment system an important point of control. Coagulation, a common water treatment process, has a positive impact on the overall treatment process but often struggles to address nitrogen pollution effectively. Our study introduces a novel magnetic seed to enhance coagulation in treating nitrogen pollution, offering a new solution for the global water treatment industry. We focus on the efficiency, mechanistic detail, and recovery potential of a magnetic zirconium tannate in treating real-world wastewater nitrogen under coagulation conditions. Results show that 9 g/L of magnetic zirconium tannate effectively removes ammonia nitrogen, organic nitrogen, and total nitrogen from five different wastewater types. For low-concentration wastewater with ammonia nitrogen below 20 mg/L and organic nitrogen below 5 mg/L, removal rates reach up to 100%. For high-concentration wastewater with ammonia nitrogen below 98 mg/L and organic nitrogen below 86 mg/L, the maximum removal rate is 59% for ammonia nitrogen and 88% for organic nitrogen. Spectral analysis reveals that magnetic zirconium tannate adsorbs nitrogen compounds in water through both hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions, achieving excellent treatment outcomes. It can be efficiently recovered without using complex organic eluents and is easily separated from the flocculate. This technology offers non-disruptive supplement for current treatment approaches to meet the global nitrogen pollution challenge head on.

Usefulness of Moringa oleifera seed extract as Coagulant for the production of fresh camel cheese

The current study aimed to enhance the coagulation properties of camel milk using enzymatic extracts derived from Moringa oleifera seeds. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the clotting activities of Moringa extract on camel milk and compare them with cow milk. Our results regarding the characterisation of the enzymatic extract showed an extraction yield of 54.3±1.8%. The optimum coagulation conditions were determined to be pH 5 and a temperature of 55°C. In addition, the enzymes exhibited substantial clotting activity (2.54 RU) on both camel and cow milk. The cheese samples showed significant oxidative and antibacterial activity.

High tensile regenerated cellulose fibers via cyclic freeze-thawing enabled dissolution in phosphoric acid for textile-to-textile recycling of waste cotton fabrics

Recycling of waste cotton fabrics (WCFs) is a desirable solution to address the problems brought up by fast fashion, but it remains challenging due to inherent limitations in preparing stable and spinnable dopes by dissolving high molecular weight cellulose efficiently and cost effectively. Herein, we show that despite the prevailing concerns of cellulose degradation via glycosidic hydrolysis when dissolved in acids, fast and non-destructive direct dissolution of WCFs in aqueous phosphoric acid (a.q. PA) could be realized using a cyclic freeze-thawing procedure, which combined with subsequent adjustment of degree of polymerization (DP) and degassing yielded stable and spinnable dopes. Regenerated cellulose fibers (RCFs) with favorable tensile strength (414.2 ± 14.3 MPa) and flexibility (15.4 ± 1.5 %) could be obtained by carefully adjusting the coagulation conditions to induce oriented and compact packing of the cellulose chains. The method was shown to be conveniently extended to dissolve reactively dyed WCFs, showing great potential as a cheap and green alternative to heavily explored ionic liquids (ILs) and N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide (NMMO)-based systems for textile-to-textile recycling of WCFs.

Transcriptomic analysis of profibrinolytic and fibrinolytic inhibitor genes in COVID-19 patients.

The immunopathogenesis of COVID-19 infection is initiated by the entry of the SARS-CoV-2 virus into the human body through droplets, entering the lungs and binding to the ACE-2 receptor. Activated macrophages stimulate an immune and inflammatory response, leading to the activation of the coagulation cascade, including profibrinolytic and fibrinolytic inhibitor processes. One of the proteins involved in profibrinolytic is encoded by the PLAUR gene, while fibrinolytic inhibitor proteins are encoded by the A2M and SERPINE1 genes. This research aims to assess the transcriptomic analysis of genetic expression data of profibrinolytic genes, fibrinolytic inhibitor genes and their correlation with serum D-dimer levels, which describe the clinical condition of coagulation in COVID-19 patients. This cross-sectional study included 25 patients each for mild and moderate-to-severe COVID-19 at Dr. M. Djamil Padang General Hospital, Padang, Indonesia. Inter-group gene expression comparisons will be analyzed using log2 folds change, and bivariate tests will be analyzed using correlation. The results show that the PLAUR gene has higher expression in moderate-to-severe compared to mild cases. Similarly, the SERPINE1 and A2M genes expressions are higher in moderate-to-severe compared to mild cases. Furthermore, there is a significant correlation between serum D-dimer levels and profibrinolytic factor (PLAUR gene) expression in COVID-19 patients. The correlation between serum D-dimer levels with fibrinolytic inhibitor factor (SERPINE1 and A2M genes) expression was found. These conclude that there is a significant difference in the expression of the profibrinolytic and fibrinolytic inhibitor genes between mild and moderate-to-severe cases in COVID-19, demonstrating COVID-19 infection affects coagulation activities.

An Anomaly Detection Approach to Determine Optimal Cutting Time in Cheese Formation

The production of cheese, a beloved culinary delight worldwide, faces challenges in maintaining consistent product quality and operational efficiency. One crucial stage in this process is determining the precise cutting time during curd formation, which significantly impacts the quality of the cheese. Misjudging this timing can lead to the production of inferior products, harming a company’s reputation and revenue. Conventional methods often fall short of accurately assessing variations in coagulation conditions due to the inherent potential for human error. To address this issue, we propose an anomaly-detection-based approach. In this approach, we treat the class representing curd formation as the anomaly to be identified. Our proposed solution involves utilizing a one-class, fully convolutional data description network, which we compared against several state-of-the-art methods to detect deviations from the standard coagulation patterns. Encouragingly, our results show F1 scores of up to 0.92, indicating the effectiveness of our approach.

Fiber-based super-bridging agents improve flotation and settling during water treatment

Increasing demand for water poses a major challenge to the water treatment industry. Consequently, water treatment plants are expected to require larger separation units and use more chemicals. Physicochemical treatments produce flocs that are limited in size, which limits floc removal efficiency during gravitational separation. Introducing fiber-based super-bridging agents has improved the floc size, which is 10–100 times larger than conventional flocs. Such improvements could lead to important gains in floc separation and ultimately increase the capacity of water treatment plants. This study analyzed the behavior and interaction of fibers under various coagulation/flocculation conditions to improve flotation and settling. The results also showed that fibers can allow a ~ 50 % reduction in coagulant. The benefits of fibers on floc size were particularly pronounced during suboptimal coagulation, as the injection of fibers compensated for poor coagulation conditions. Air bubbles during air flotation were also better incorporated into the larger and more porous floc structure obtained with fibers, which drastically improved floc removal during flotation. The best turbidity removal after flotation was obtained when combining 2 mg of cationic polyacrylamide and 200 mg of softwood fibers/L. Fiber-based super-bridging agents can be introduced in existing water treatment plants to increase plant capacity, reduce the demand for coagulants/flocculants, and improve contaminant removal.

Effects of PCSK9 on thrombosis and haemostasis in a variety of metabolic states: Lipids and beyond (Review).

Proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors are widely recognised as being able to induce a potent reduction in low‑density lipoprotein‑cholesterol. An increasing number of studies have suggested that PCSK9 also influences the haemostatic system by altering platelet function and the coagulation cascade. These findings have significant implications for anti‑PCSK9 therapy in patients with specific coagulation conditions, including expanded indications, dose adjustments and drug interactions. The present review summarises the changes in PCSK9 levels in individuals with liver diseases, chronic kidney diseases, diabetes mellitus, cancer and other disease states, and discusses their impact on thrombosis and haemostasis. Furthermore, the structure, effects and regulatory mechanisms of PCSK9 on platelets, coagulation factors, inflammatory cells and endothelial cells during coagulation and haemostasis are described.

Factors affecting the coagulation of milk protein during quark cheese processing in Vietnam

In recent years, cheese consumption in Vietnam is markedly rising, leading to the attention of local milk processors on cheese making. Quark-type cheese, a traditional food in Central Europe, is a type of well-known acid-coagulated cheese product. Milk coagulation properties (MCPs) play an important role to the success of the cheese-making process and are influenced by different parameters. In this study, the quality of raw milk for cheese making and the coagulation conditions in quark-type cheese processing were investigated. Raw milk collected from Phu Dong dairy farm met the requirement of Vietnamese standard for cheese making. The appropriate conditions for coagulation were identified: the heat treatment of milk at 60°C for 15 minutes, coagulation temperature at 40oC and pH 5.5, CaCl2 concentration at 0.04g/l. Under these conditions, a short coagulation time (72.33 seconds) and high curd yields (50.70%) were obtained. These results suggested that quark-type cheese using raw milk in Vietnam could be successfully developed at larger scale.

Examining coagulation conditions for the utilization of technical albumen. A preliminary study

Egg processing, a major source of high-value protein for the food industry, is on the rise. However, it generates significant waste. Utilizing egg by-products, especially technical albumen, offers ways to create value-added products. The aim of this study is to examined different coagulation conditions for the utilization of technical albumen. Four types of coagulation were examined. The first type required pH correction using an acid solution (30% citric, lactic, or acetic acid) until the pH ranged from 4.8 to 5.2, followed by thermal coagulation using steam. The second type involved mixing the technical albumen with various percentages of 96% ethanol, ranging from 1% to 10%, followed by coagulation using steam. The third type was a combination of the first two. The precipitates were collected in porous fibre and pressed for 15 minutes at 350 gr/cm2. Citric acid led to grainy, high-yield precipitates; lactic and acetic acid yielded more homogenous precipitates with increased dry matter loss. Only the 7.5% addition of ethanol resulted in relatively high precipitate yield. The combination of pH correction and ethanol addition didn’t enhance yield. Understanding the correlation between the composition of the technical albumen and applied coagulation condition necessitates further analysis.

Effect of coagulation conditions on size and morphology of phytoplanktonic organism aggregates

Effect of coagulation conditions on size and morphology of phytoplanktonic organism aggregates

Microplastic removal in batch and dynamic coagulation-flocculation-sedimentation systems is controlled by floc size

Most studies examining the removal of microplastics (MPs) during controlled bench-scale trials have applied high coagulant dosages, which are characteristic of sweep flocculation. As such the impact of other typical operating conditions remains largely unknown. The use of bench-scale jar testing is ubiquitous in the literature, however the hydrodynamics of a batch-type approach bear little resemblance to full-scale treatment processes. In this study, a range of microplastics sizes and types were employed to assess their removal via conventional jar tests as well as to compare results to a continuous-flow bench-scale system. Jar tests were performed to identify pH values and alum dosages that are optimal for MP reduction when considering a range of coagulation conditions. The production of large and readily settling aluminum hydroxide (Al(OH)3) floc represented the dominant condition driving MPs removal. However, total MP removal was observed to be lower during continuous-flow trials when compared to jar tests, suggesting that direct extrapolation of results from jar tests may overpredict performance observed at full-scale. Irrespective of microplastic type and size, strong correlations were observed between MP concentration and turbidity reduction, indicating that turbidity may potentially serve as a very useful surrogate. Significant correlations were observed when comparing both floc size, especially 90th percentile floc diameter, and concentration of floc >100 μm to the reduction of MPs.

Mitigation of reverse osmosis membrane fouling by coagulation pretreatment to remove silica and transparent exopolymer particles

The dissolution of silica and transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) can deposit on the membrane surface and cause serious membrane fouling in reverse osmosis (RO) technology. Coagulation, as a common pretreatment process for RO, can effectively intercept pollutants and alleviate membrane fouling. In this study, FeCl3 and AlCl3 coagulants and polyacrylamide (PAM) flocculants were used to explore the optimal coagulation conditions to reduce the concentration of silica and TEP in the RO process. The results showed that the two coagulants had the best removal effect on pollutants when the pH was 7 and the dosage was 50 mg/L. Considering the proportion of reversible fouling after coagulation, the removal rate of pollutants, and the residual amount of coagulation metal ions, the best PAM dosage was 5 mg/L for FeCl3 and 1 mg/L for AlCl3. After coagulation pretreatment, the Zeta potential decreased, and the particle size distribution increased, making pollutants tend to aggregate, thus effectively removing foulants. The removal mechanisms of pollutants by coagulation pretreatment were determined to be adsorption, electric neutralization and co-precipitation. This study determined the best removal conditions of silica and TEP by coagulation and explored the removal mechanism.

Optimum Conditions for Enhancing Chitosan-Assisted Coagulation in Drinking Water Treatment

Coagulant aids are useful chemicals that enhance the efficiency of coagulation sedimentation treatment. For this purpose, it is necessary to choose safe chemicals to avoid various risks to the health of those who use the treated water. The use of chitosan, an abundant natural polysaccharide, as a coagulant aid is significant not only for safe water treatment but also for the effective utilization of unused natural water resources, which are mostly wasted. We experimentally determined the optimal treatment conditions for using chitosan as a coagulant aid in water treatment. The most efficient use was identified as adding chitosan at the stage of rapid stirring after the addition of coagulant accelerated initial dispersion. When used with the main coagulant polyaluminum chloride (PACl), the optimal concentration of chitosan was 0.8 mg L−1, as estimated using the ζ potential showing isoelectricity at the optimal chitosan concentration. Determining the chitosan concentration using the minimum ζ potential was also valid for estimating the optimum concentration of chitosan, which is an extension of the method used at much higher turbidity, as seen in wastewater. Thus, the ζ potential-based prediction of the optimum chitosan concentration was effective even when the effect of sweep coagulation, which is normally induced at higher turbidity, was negligible. The superiority of using the coagulant PACl in combination with chitosan as the coagulant aid was demonstrated by comparing the in situ-observed coagulation process to cases with other coagulants and coagulant aids using direct time-series observation of the coagulation process. The use of chitosan with PACl was found to make the flocs easier to remove because it resulted in the largest mass fraction of the resultant floc sedimentation on the bottom of the vessel. In this study, using the PACl coagulant in combination with chitosan as the coagulant aid was found to be as viable as using the current popular combination of aluminum sulfate and polyacrylamide. Replacing polyacrylamide with chitosan contributed to reducing the potential risk to the health of those to use the treated water.

Using image texture to monitor the growth and settling of flocs

Abstract Currently, a reliable and easy-to-use method to monitor flocculation in the water treatment process is highly demanded, especially for small water purification stations. For this problem, in situ images were used to analyze the flocculation process under different conditions via jar tests. A texture feature of the gray level co-occurrence matrix was found to be helpful for monitoring the floc status, such as growth rate and settling velocity. To further verify this finding, we established the correlation between the texture time sequence curve (TTSC) and its corresponding floc status. The slope of the TTSC during the growth phase and during the settling phase can describe the growth rate and the settling velocity, respectively, i.e., the higher the slope, the higher the growth rate and settling velocity. In addition, significant differences between the TTSCs in various abnormal conditions and the normal condition of coagulation can be identified. By using the TTSC for detecting abnormal conditions, we again verified that the texture feature can reliably reflect the flocculation process. Our study helps to develop a low-cost, stable, and simple method for monitoring flocculation and detecting abnormal conditions, which can effectively be used in the operation and management of water treatment plants.

High-throughput screening to evaluate optimum coagulation conditions via colloidal stability analysis

Current methods of optimizing the coagulant dosage in wastewater treatment processes typically rely on the use of labor- and material-intensive jar testers, which are inadequate when coagulation processes require frequent adjustments due to variations in properties of the incoming feed. Analytical centrifuges (ACs) employ an integrated optics system that simultaneously monitors the position of the boundary between two separating phases in multiple samples of fairly low volumes (∼2 mL) – thus it was expected that ACs would be ideally suited to study the stability and settling kinetics of coagulation treatment processes. In this study, wastewater samples from a biogas generation facility (known as centrate) were collected in February 2022 (Batch A) and July 2022 (Batch B). A comprehensive screening of the treatment performance for Batch B was conducted at three pHs (5, 6, and 7) and nine concentrations of ferric chloride (0–500 mg-Fe3+/L) – it was found that the front-tracking profiles measured by the integrated optics system could be used to identify the minimal coagulation conditions needed to transition from slow to rapid settling. While the settling velocity was found to be well correlated with the instability index, a dimensionless number between 0 and 1 (where values closer to 1 indicate better separation), it was determined that the percentage of COD removal from the centrate samples increased up to an instability index of approximately 0.5 and then plateaued. Finally, it was found that the front-tracking profiles could be used to estimate the volume of sludge produced at various coagulation conditions. Thus, the results from this study establish ACs as an important screening tool for rapid evaluation of treatment performance while consuming minimal material and time – in this study, a total of 132 screening experiments were conducted using approximately ∼11 L of centrate and ∼6 hours of operator time.

Effect of adsorbate geometry and hydrogen bonding on the enhanced adsorption of VOCs by an interfacial Fe3O4–rGO heterostructure

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced from a wide range of industrial and household chemicals are toxic to human health. Hence, effective VOC removal strategies such as adsorption are essential. Developing a carbon-based adsorbent for the selective adsorption of VOCs without affecting its inherent adsorption capacity is challenging. In this study, we prepared three Fe3O4-doped reduced graphene oxide (Fe-rGO) materials via a liquid-phase reduction technique under acidic, neutral, and basic coagulation conditions. The Fe-rGO adsorbents exhibited a hydrolysis-induced GO network with a wrinkled layer morphology. Acidic conditions yielded an rGO surface with a large number of O-functional groups (epoxy and carboxylic groups), which act as anchoring sites for the growth of Fe3O4 nanoparticles. The synergistic effect of Fe3O4 domains and O active sites led to the effective and selective adsorption of amphiphilic VOCs including C4-C7 alkanes, ketones, and aromatic compounds (10.8–63.2 mg g−1). Experimental analyses and density functional theory calculations revealed three crucial factors that determine the improved amphiphilic VOC adsorption of the Fe-rGO materials: geometry of the adsorbate, hydrogen bonding at the rGO surface, and Fe3O4 nanoparticles controlling the charge density. Our facile and effective rGO surface manipulation strategy involving the fabrication of a metal oxide–carbon heterostructure provides a selective adsorption platform for amphiphilic VOCs.

Advanced Treatment of Coking Wastewater by Polyaluminum Silicate Sulfate for Organic Compounds Removal.

Coking wastewater is a typical high-strength organic wastewater, for which it is difficult to meet discharging standards with a single biological treatment. In this study, effective advanced treatment of coking wastewater was achieved by coagulation with freshly prepared polyaluminum silicate sulfate (PASS). The performance advantage was determined through comparison with commercial coagulants including ferric chloride, polyferric sulfate, aluminum sulfate and polyaluminum chloride. Both single-factor and Taguchi experiments were conducted to determine the optimal conditions for coagulation with CODCr and UV254 as indicators. A dosage of 7 mmol/L PASS, flocculation velocity of 75 r/min, flocculation time of 30 min, pH of 7, and temperature of 20 °C could decrease the CODCr concentration from 196.67 mg/L to 59.94 mg/L. Enhanced coagulation could further help to remove the organic compounds, including pre-oxidation with ozonation, adsorption with activated carbon, assistant coagulation with polyacrylamide and secondary coagulation. UV spectrum scanning and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry revealed that the coagulation process effectively removed the majority of organic compounds, especially the high molecular weight alkanes and heterocyclic compounds. Coagulation with PASS provides an effective alternative for the advanced treatment of coking wastewater.

The coagulation behavior and removal efficiency of microplastics in drinking water treatment

As a kind of emerging contaminants, microplastics (MPs) have got great attention due to its worldwide distribution, ecotoxicology and difficult to remove. MPs have already been found in the drinking water because of its low removal efficiency during drinking water treatment. As an important process to remove the particles in water, the coagulation behavior of MPs with different characteristics is still not clear. Besides that, research about the removal of MPs by coagulation is on the initial stage and the results are not consistent. This article studied on the MPs which were hard to be removed during the coagulation by conventional coagulation methods during the drinking water treatment, aimed to found the influence of MPs characteristics on the coagulation behavior, explore the removal efficiency of MPs under optimal coagulation conditions and infer the coagulation mechanisms of MPs. According to the results of this article, size and concentration of MPs both had significant effect on the coagulation, but the size of MPs was the main impact factor, and the category of MPs had no significant effect on the coagulation. After operating condition optimization, the removal efficiency of MPs with size ≥13 μm could reach >70 % by PAC and PAM. During coagulation process, electrical neutralization of PAC played the most important role, the adsorption bridging and net sweeping of PAM could assistant the coagulation.