Food-grade Vegetable Oils Research Articles

Rheological, textural and emulsifying properties of an exopolysaccharide produced by Mesorhizobium loti grown on a crude glycerol-based medium

In the present study, a new extracellular polysaccharide (EPS-M816) was obtained during the growth of Mesorhizobium loti Semia 816 on a crude glycerol-based medium. EPS-M816 precipitate mainly consisted of carbohydrates (82.54%) and proteins (11.31%), and the weight average molecular weight was estimated at 1.646 × 106 Da. The biopolymer was characterized by FT-IR and NMR spectroscopy, and was found to have typical functional groups of other rhizobial polysaccharides. Furthermore, the rheological and emulsifying properties were investigated. The EPS-M816 solution (1.0% w/v) showed typical pseudoplastic non-Newtonian fluid behavior, and the addition of sodium and potassium chloride (1 mol L−1) increased the apparent viscosity. Regarding its emulsification activity, EPS-M816 formed emulsions with different food-grade vegetable oils (soybean, rice, canola, sunflower and corn oils), showing emulsification index values over 65% in 24 h, indicative of strong emulsion-stabilizing capacity. The biopolymer was able to form gels with texture parameters similar to those reported for xanthan gum and low syneresis. Overall, these results suggest that EPS-M816 is a good candidate for application in the food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries as a thickening, gelling, stabilizing and emulsifying agent.

Production and characterization of biodiesel from Eriobotrya Japonica seed oil: an optimization study

ABSTRACTBiodiesel is now-a-days recognized as a real potential alternative to petroleum-derived diesel fuel due to its number of desirable characteristics. However, its higher production cost resulting mainly due to use of costly food-grade vegetable oils as raw materials is the major barrier to its economic viability. Present work is an attempt to explore the potential of Eriobotrya japonica seed oil for the synthesis of biodiesel using alkali-catalyzed transesterification. Optimization of production parameters, namely molar ratio of alcohol to oil, amount of catalyst, reaction time and temperature, was carried out using Taguchi method. Fatty acid composition of both oil and biodiesel was determined using GC and H1 NMR. Alcohol to oil molar ratio of 6:1, catalyst amount of 1% wt/wt, 2 h reaction time and 50 °C reaction temperature were found to be the optimum conditions for obtaining 94.52% biodiesel. Highest % contribution was shown by the ‘amount of catalyst’ (67.32%) followed by molar ratio of alcohol to oil (25.51%). Major fuel properties of E. japonica methyl esters produced under optimum conditions were found within the specified limits of ASTM D6751 for biodiesel, hence it may be considered a prospective substitute of petro-diesel.

Biodiesel production from Phoenix dactylifera as a new feedstock

Biodiesel is one of the renewable and clean burning fuels, which can be used in diesel engines. Biodiesel is usually generated from food-grade vegetable oils using transesterification process. Using the food-grade vegetable oils is not economical since they are more expensive than diesel fuel. Therefore, it is said that the main obstacle for commercialization of biodiesel is its high cost. The kind of feedstock, which is used is the most effective factor on the biodiesel characteristics and the price. So, at first finding a proper feedstock has an important role in different places. Therefore in this research the possibility of using date seed as a cheap feedstock for biodiesel production was investigated, because it is produced largely in the hot arid regions of southwestern Asia and northern Africa. After extracting oil and producing biodiesel from Phoenix dactylifera (date seed) oil, the properties of biodiesel were evaluated by fuel standard tests and the results were compared with EN14214 and ASTM D6751 standards and also compared with the properties of produced. According to the results, the important benefit of the biodiesel from the date seed oil is high cetane number (60.3), low iodine value (46), viscosity (3.84mm2/s) and flash point (140°C) and the only weak point is its high pouring point (−1°C) which limits the use of date seed biodiesel in cold weather in comparison with other vegetable biodiesel fuels.

Development and Application of a Database of Food Ingredient Fraud and Economically Motivated Adulteration from 1980 to 2010

Food ingredient fraud and economically motivated adulteration are emerging risks, but a comprehensive compilation of information about known problematic ingredients and detection methods does not currently exist. The objectives of this research were to collect such information from publicly available articles in scholarly journals and general media, organize into a database, and review and analyze the data to identify trends. The results summarized are a database that will be published in the US Pharmacopeial Convention's Food Chemicals Codex, 8th edition, and includes 1305 records, including 1000 records with analytical methods collected from 677 references. Olive oil, milk, honey, and saffron were the most common targets for adulteration reported in scholarly journals, and potentially harmful issues identified include spices diluted with lead chromate and lead tetraoxide, substitution of Chinese star anise with toxic Japanese star anise, and melamine adulteration of high protein content foods. High-performance liquid chromatography and infrared spectroscopy were the most common analytical detection procedures, and chemometrics data analysis was used in a large number of reports. Future expansion of this database will include additional publically available articles published before 1980 and in other languages, as well as data outside the public domain. The authors recommend in-depth analyses of individual incidents. This report describes the development and application of a database of food ingredient fraud issues from publicly available references. The database provides baseline information and data useful to governments, agencies, and individual companies assessing the risks of specific products produced in specific regions as well as products distributed and sold in other regions. In addition, the report describes current analytical technologies for detecting food fraud and identifies trends and developments.

Aging of biodegradable oils and assessment of their suitability for high voltage applications

In many items of high voltage plant, a mineral or synthetic oil is used in conjunction with paper as the dielectric medium. However, increasing awareness of the environmental impact of human activity and increasing disposal costs have encouraged researchers to direct their attention to renewable and biodegradable alternatives. Originally used in capacitors, vegetable oils are now finding widespread use in some transformer installations, particularly in the United States. Therefore, it seems prudent to begin systematic investigations of the aging behavior of a number of vegetable based oils and assess their potential for application in high voltage systems. A total of five food grade vegetable oils, an oil specifically formulated for high voltage applications (Envirotemp FR3) and dodecylbenzene (DDB) were aged at various temperatures in air. Their aging behavior was assessed by ultra-violet/visible, infrared and dielectric spectroscopies supplemented with measurements of viscosity. It was found that olive oil offered excellent resistance to aging (comparable to Envirotemp oil), rapeseed oil offered intermediate properties whereas corn and sunflower oil oxidized appreciably after aging. Despite being more prone to oxidation, all the vegetable oils offered dielectric properties which were better than dodecylbenzene and similar to mineral oil.

Recent Development of Biodiesel Feedstocks and the Applications of Glycerol: A Review

Biodiesel, as renewable and biological origin alternative diesel fuel, has been receiving a lot of concern throughout the world due to the energy needs and environmental awareness. However, at present, it is not economically feasible to use food-grade vegetable oils to produce biodiesel because of the surge in feedstocks price. Much attention has been devoted to the application of lower-cost feedstocks to produce biodiesel. This paper provided a comprehensive review of biodiesel production from lower-cost non-edible oil sources, such as waste cooking oil (WCO), grease, soapstock, Jatropha oil, and algae. The engine performances of biodiesel produced from these feedstocks were further evaluated. This review also investigated the various applications for the value-added products from glycerol, the by- product of biodiesel. Moreover, the challenges in terms of different feedstocks and by-product applications were further pointed out.

Biodiesel production from various feedstocks and their effects on the fuel properties

Biodiesel, which is a new, renewable and biological origin alternative diesel fuel, has been receiving more attention all over the world due to the energy needs and environmental consciousness. Biodiesel is usually produced from food-grade vegetable oils using transesterification process. Using food-grade vegetable oils is not economically feasible since they are more expensive than diesel fuel. Therefore, it is said that the main obstacle for commercialization of biodiesel is its high cost. Waste cooking oils, restaurant greases, soapstocks and animal fats are potential feedstocks for biodiesel production to lower the cost of biodiesel. However, to produce fuel-grade biodiesel, the characteristics of feedstock are very important during the initial research and production stage since the fuel properties mainly depend on the feedstock properties. This review paper presents both biodiesel productions from various feedstocks and their effects on the fuel properties.

The potential of restaurant waste lipids as biodiesel feedstocks

Biodiesel is usually produced from food-grade vegetable oils that are more expensive than diesel fuel. Therefore, biodiesel produced from food-grade vegetable oil is currently not economically feasible. Waste cooking oils, restaurant grease and animal fats are potential feedstocks for biodiesel. These inexpensive feedstocks represent one-third of the US total fats and oil production, but are currently devoted mostly to industrial uses and animal feed. The characteristics of feedstock are very important during the initial research and production stage. Free fatty acids and moisture reduce the efficiency of transesterification in converting these feedstocks into biodiesel. Hence, this study was conducted to determine the level of these contaminants in feedstock samples from a rendering plant. Levels of free fatty acids varied from 0.7% to 41.8%, and moisture from 0.01% to 55.38%. These wide ranges indicate that an efficient process for converting waste grease and animal fats must tolerate a wide range of feedstock properties.

A rapid screening technique for vegetable oil identity by sub-ambient DSC

Vegetable oils are widely used in the food industry. Labeling requirements have alerted the consuming public to the presence of vegetable oils and to the wide variety of oils used. Vegetable oils are selected commercially for their physical properties, price and availability, and many ingredient labels contain the ‘and/or’ clause reflecting the interchangeability of food grade vegetable oils. A ‘fingerprinting’ method has been developed utilizing the characteristic sub-ambient liquid—solid and solid—solid transitions of vegetable oils. The DSC was used in the temperature range 320 to 220 K. The cooling curves and their first derivatives were recorded for a pattern recognition library of pure vegetable oils, mixtures of oils, and oils present in standard cookie dough. This pattern library will serve as the basis for rapid verification of identity for vegetable oils, mixtures of oils and oils in commercially prepared food products.

Automobile Emission Reduction and Environmental Protection through Use of Green Renewable Fuel

Fossil fuels are the chief contributors to urban air pollution and major source of green house gases and considered the prime cause behind the global climate change. With the increasing fuel prices, the auto industry forced to make their engines to breathe cleanly and fuel efficiently. Biodiesel is a renewable diesel fuel substitute that can be made by chemically combining any natural oil or fat with an alcohol such as methanol or ethanol. Some of the well-known liquid biofuel are ethanol for gasoline engines and biodiesel for compression ignition engines or diesel engines. Biodiesel is a renewable and environmental friendly alternative diesel fuel for diesel engine. It can be produced from food grade vegetable oils or edible oils, nonfood grade vegetable oils or inedible oil, animal fats and waste or used vegetable oils, by the transesterifcation process. Transesterifcation is a chemical reaction in which vegetable oils and animal fats are reacted with alcohol in the presence of a catalyst. The products of reaction are fatty acid alkyl ester and glycerin, and where the fatty acid alkyl ester known as biodiesel. Biodiesel is an oxygenated fuel containing 10% to 15% oxygen by weight. Using biodiesel can help to reduce the world’s dependence on fossil fuels and has significant environmental benefts. The reasons for these environmental benefits using biodiesel instead of the conventional diesel fuel reduces exhaust emissions such as the overall life circle of carbon dioxide (CO2), particulate matter (PM), carbon Monoxide (CO), sulfur oxides (SOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and unburned hydrocarbons (HC) significantly. Furthermore, since biodiesel can be said a sulfur-free fuel, it has 99% less SOx emission than the diesel fuel. However, most of the biodiesel produce 10% to 15% higher oxides of nitrogen (NOx) when fueling with 100% biodie-sel for a cleaner air and cleaner environment. They are technically competitive with and offer technical advantages compared to petroleum-diesel fuel. Aside from being renewable and biodegradable, biodiesel reduces most emissions while engine performance and fuel economy are nearly the same as the conventional fuel. In this paper author have discussed various merits and de-merits of biodiesel on the environment used as C.I.Engine fuel.Key words: Biodiesel; CO2 emission; Global warming; Emission reductionDOI: 10.3126/hn.v7i0.4240Hydro Nepal Journal of Water, Energy and EnvironmentVol. 7, July, 2010Page: 65-70Uploaded date: 31 January, 2011