High-quality Oil Research Articles

Catalytic Pyrolysis of Oil Sludge with Iron-Containing Waste for Production of High-Quality Oil and H2-Rich Gas

Catalytic Pyrolysis of Oil Sludge with Iron-Containing Waste for Production of High-Quality Oil and H2-Rich Gas

Состав и свойства масляных фракций уникальных азербайджанских нефтей (обзор)

This review article presents the results of a study of Azerbaijan oils for their scientifically based sorting and processing, since they are a valuable raw material for petrochemical processes. Particular attention is paid to the study of light oil products, their qualities are decisive for the assessment of the oil itself. In oils, the qualities of fuel oils, distillate and oil fractions are also determined. Azerbaijan oils, due to their uniqueness, are used as a valuable raw material for petrochemistry. In addition, in connection with the export of oil to world markets, it is important to identify the valuable properties of Azerbaijani oils that allow them to compete with well-known marker oils. Also relevant is the assessment of the qualities of fuel oils and oil fractions of Azerbaijani oils. The review article discusses the quality of oil fractions from offshore fields oils in the Azerbaijan and Turkmen sectors of the Caspian Sea, containing 9-13% paraffin, 14-36% aromatic hydrocarbons. It has been established that base oils with a VI of 80-90 units (I group by API) are obtained by processes of selective purification and dewaxing, as we showed earlier when obtaining oil fractions from promising Azerbaijan oils Azeri, Chirag, etc. To obtain modern high-quality oils with IV 100 and higher, it is possible to use refined oil components from Azerbaijan oils (for example, from Balakhani oil) using and involving hydrocracking oils (20-40%) and a package of additives from foreign companies.

OBTAINING DIESEL FUEL WITH IMPROVED PROPERTIES

It is known that one of the ways to increase the level of operational properties of diesel fuels is the injection of special components – additives – into their composition. Today this way is a quite rational and economically feasible for Ukraine, especially in the absence of high-quality oil raw materials for the production of fuels, which in turn leads to a significant dependence on imports.
 The range of additives used in diesel fuels is very diverse, which makes it difficult to select a balanced package, especially considering their effectiveness and compatibility with each other. This procedure can be a bit simplified by adding poly-functional additives to diesel fuel, the use of which is devoted to a lot of periodical literature.
 Based on the relevance of the direction of scientific research related to improving the properties of diesel fuel, which is produced at the enterprises of the oil refining industry in Ukraine, we proposed to use a substance belonging to the class of aromatic diazocompounds and having polyfunctional properties in the composition of diesel fuels. Thus, this additive was added to a straight-run diesel fraction (240–350 °C) in an amount of up to 1.0%, followed by a study of the properties of the resulting mixture. Studies have shown that the additive significantly improves low-temperature properties (by -10 °C), contributes to an increase in fuel density and viscosity, and additionally gives diesel fuel a stable color (from yellow to orange). Consequently, it can be used in the composition of commercial diesel fuels with improved performance properties.

Coheritability and Genetic Advances of Agromorphological and Oil Quality Traits in Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) Genotypes from Ethiopia

Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is one of the most important oils, food, confectionery, and feed crops due to its high oil quality and richness in all classes of nutrients. Coheritability helps in determining the pattern of coinheritance of two or more traits. This study was aimed at determining the coheritability of oil and yield traits to provide means of conducting improvement of oil traits through breeding for yield traits. The coheritabilities of the traits were estimated by a pooled analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) for agromorphological and oil traits. The result indicated that all oil traits have shown medium to high coheritability with oil content, oil quality, and seed yield. The coheritability and genetic advance of the three agronomically important traits in oil crops including oil content, oleic to linoleic acid (O/L) ratio, and seed yield (SY) is greater than oil content, linoleic acid, and SY can be further evidence showing that both oil content and oil quality traits can be improved with seed yield, indicating that there is the possibility of making a selection for genotypes with high oil content, oil yield, and oil quality with high seed yield traits.

Spatio-temporal characterization of the fruit metabolism in contrasting accessions of Macauba (Acrocomia aculeata)

Although Macauba (Acrocomia aculeata) has been highlighted by its high-quality oil to fit edible and nonedible purposes, data addressing carbon and nitrogen metabolism underlying development and ripening of fruits remain scarce. In addition, accessions of Macauba exibit varied oil yield in fruits, including during the fruit development stages. Here, we monitored contents of carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids and lipids in the mesocarp and endosperm of Macauba fruits until ripening. We selected three accessions from different Brazilian regions (southeast, MG; northeast, PE; and central-west, MS) that differ in the mesocarp lipid content of ripe fruits. Despite the anatomical differences, mesocarp and endosperm exhibited similar trends of metabolite accumulation for most of the analyzed compounds. In the mesocarp, total soluble protein, free amino acids, sucrose, starch and total lipids accumulate towards ripening, while glucose and fructose declined in all accessions. Endosperm differed from mesocarp solely in the amino acid content, which decreased in ripe fruits. In the endosperm, accessions accumulated carbohydrates differently. Accession PE showed comparable fructose and starch contents in the endosperm between the beginning of fruit development and ripening, while in accessions MG and MS, both compounds decreased and increased, respectively, towards ripening. Accession MG was highlighted by its highest lipid content in the two tissues indicating its potential for energy and cosmetic industries. Our results provide novel insights into metabolic changes underlying development and ripening of Macauba fruits and variability in oil content among accessions, indicating new targets for breeding programs.

Hydrothermal conversion of oil shale: Synthetic oil generation and micro-scale pore structure change

In this work, the hydrothermal conversion of oil shale from Natih B Formation (Oman) was evaluated at different temperatures (300, 350 and 400 °C) and 2291.6 psi (close to the reservoir pressure) using both crushed and uncrushed core samples. The performance of hydrothermal conversion of oil shale was evaluated in terms of material balance (yield of synthetic oil and gas), composition of evolved gases, synthetic oil quality (SARA fractions, elemental analysis, alkanes distribtuion by GC, and aliphtics and aromatic structure change by GC–MS etc.), and the change in organic matter (OM) in the core by LF-NMR. In addition, the change in pore size and structure was also investigated by X-ray computed tomography. The results show that 350 °C gives the best performance for the hydrothermal conversion of oil shale to generate synthetic oil in terms of synthetic oil yield and quality. The high quality of synthetic oil is manifested by a much higher content of aliphatic hydrocarbons than aromatics; a higher amount of saturates and aromatics (light fractions) than resins and asphaltenes (heavy fractions); and a higher amount of light alkanes (especially C10-C20) with a lower amount of heavy alkanes (especial C26-C36). The hydrothermal conversion of OM was confirmed by LF-NMR technique. It was found that hydrothermal treatment induced a significant increase in pore size and porosity with the formation of connected pore channels, resulting in the transformation of oil shale from an extremely low permeable into a higher permeable porous medium. This change in rock properties benefits the subsequent injection of any fluids for the conversion and production of oil shale in field. These promising results technically prove the potential for the development of shale oil from Natih B Formation by hydrothermal conversion.

Combined Transcriptome and Lipidomic Analyses of Lipid Biosynthesis in Macadamia ternifolia Nuts.

Macadamia nuts are considered a high-quality oil crop worldwide. To date, the lipid diversity and the genetic factors that mediate storage lipid biosynthesis in Macadamia ternifolia are poorly known. Here, we performed a comprehensive transcriptomic and lipidomic data analysis to understand the mechanism of lipid biosynthesis by using young, medium-aged, and mature fruit kernels. Our lipidomic analysis showed that the M. ternifolia kernel was a rich source of unsaturated fatty acids. Moreover, different species of triacylglycerols, diacylglycerol, ceramides, phosphatidylethanolamine, and phosphatidic acid had altered accumulations during the developmental stages. The transcriptome analysis revealed a large percentage of differently expressed genes during the different stages of macadamia growth. Most of the genes with significant differential expression performed functional activity of oxidoreductase and were enriched in the secondary metabolite pathway. The integration of lipidomic and transcriptomic data allowed for the identification of glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase, diacylglycerol kinase, phosphatidylinositols, nonspecific phospholipase C, pyruvate kinase 2, 3-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein reductase, and linoleate 9S-lipoxygenase as putative candidate genes involved in lipid biosynthesis, storage, and oil quality. Our study found comprehensive datasets of lipidomic and transcriptomic changes in the developing kernel of M. ternifolia. In addition, the identification of candidate genes provides essential prerequisites to understand the molecular mechanism of lipid biosynthesis in the kernel of M. ternifolia.

Reforming cotton genes: from elucidation of DNA structure to genome editing

Cotton is an essential fiber producing crop in the world. It also supports additional industries by providing high quality oil and protein in the form of cottonseed cake. Currently, there is an urgent need to increase lint yield, fiber quality, and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses due to rising pressure from a global population and possible supply shortages from the effects of erratic climate changes. Classic plant breeding and transgenic strategies need more genetic breakthroughs to support the increasing pressure for fiber quantity and quality. A potential for rapid increases in crop improvement is in various state-of-the-art gene editing technologies. Genetic research in simple micro-organisms revealed novel enzymes involved in natural sequence editing in cells, and they were successfully applied to gene editing in model plants through a system called clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats-Cas9 (CRISPR-Cas9). This and other enzymatic systems are heralded as providing numerous possibilities for creating genetic variation for crop breeders. However, gene editing in agriculture is most effective when focused on achieving transmissible changes by inducing targeted mutations in genes involved in yield or quality attributes. The newly emerged CRISPR-Cas tools should accelerate future research in cotton breeding because they can be utilized efficiently for gene editing without the need for foreign gene insertion. Gene editing with CRISPR-Cas is achieved through the modification of gene regulatory mechanisms, enzymatic activities, and epigenetic factors as well as insect/pest gene drive technology, RNA targeting, and, more recently, single base and prime editing.

First insights into bacterial communities in pre-salt oil reveal a far-from-sterile environment

The ultra-deep pre-salt oil reservoirs have attracted attention owing to their high oil quality and unique characteristics, such as high pressure and high carbon dioxide content. However, its microbiome has been poorly explored. We conducted 16S rRNA sequencing of two pre-salt oils, three production water, and three rock samples from Brazilian oil reservoirs. Both pre-salt oil samples (respectively, Oil1 from a 6,000-meter-deep and Oil2 from 4,000-meter deep reservoirs) demonstrated higher operational taxonomic unit (OTU) richness when compared to rock and production water. Pre-salt samples showed 60.8% of exclusive genera, among which 122 with no report in the literature concerning oil degradation. Only 11.67% of the pre-salt oil genera was shared with rock and 5.44% with production water groups. Ralstonia and Vogesella dominated the pre-salt oil samples (Oil1 and Oil2) with 39.3% and 37.6%, respectively. To detect taxonomic signatures of different environments and whether the pre-salt oil resembles oil-contaminated biodiversity, we conducted a broad comparison with contaminated, non-contaminated, and oil reservoir samples worldwide. The differences in microbial communities between samples concerning community membership were measured with the Bray-Curtis dissimilarity matrix. Similarity analysis (ANOSIM) showed that microbiomes grouped according to the BioProject, presenting a distinct differentiation (R = 0.95, P ≤ 0.001). The candidate phylum FCPU426 is mainly enriched in pre-salt samples. The functional inference revealed a greater abundance of microorganisms associated with aromatic compounds degradations in pre-salt samples, possibly related to high oil quality in these reservoirs. In conclusion, pre-salt oil exhibited higher biodiversity than other oil field samples. It revealed an unexpected indigenous microbial richness on deep reservoirs not subjected to enhanced oil recovery processes, indicating a microbiota adapted to this inhospitable environment, with a high occurrence of uncultivated or poorly classified taxa, representing a gene pool whose importance for biogeochemical cycles should be further investigated.

Effect of purification methods on functional properties of sardine oil ethyl esters

In this study, four methods including urea complexation (UC), molecular distillation (MD), low-temperature crystallization (LTC), and Ag+ bonded to mercaptopropyl silica gel column chromatography (AgMSG-CC) were adopted to purify eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) from sardine oil ethyl esters (SOEEs). These methods were systematically compared in terms of physicochemical properties, fatty acid (FA) compositions, and volatile flavor compounds to evaluate the performance and find the superior among them. The AgMSG-CC method was superior in enhancing iodine value (IV) and reducing peroxide value (PV), enriching EPA and DHA from 31.63% to 92.19% and removing undesirable volatiles. Its mild experimental conditions could avoid the degradation and geometrical isomerization of lipids, and the packed AgMSG column could be reused. Multivariate data analysis was applied to provide an integrated and holistic view of correlation coefficients between the samples and FA species. The results supported the critical role of AgMSG-CC method in purifying EPA and DHA. Finally, this method was validated to be accurate and sensitive in the purification of EPA and DHA from SOEEs. Practical applications High quality of fish oil is related to its high content of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and friendly aroma. However, enrichment methods about purifying fish oil affect the percentages of EPA and DHA, physicochemical indexes and the volatile flavor. In this study, the results demonstrated that Ag+ bonded to mercaptopropyl silica gel column chromatography was the most effective to purify EPA and DHA as well as remove the undesirable odor volatiles.

Assessment of the safety of dietary fish oil supplements in terms of content and quality.

The fatty acid composition of top-selling fish oil dietary supplements in the markets was compared with the content stated on product label, and their oxidative qualities and heavy metal contents were evaluated in this study. While all the capsule groups (C) confirmed the label information, it was observed that one-third of the syrup groups (S) had less than the specified content. Capsule groups generally had richer EPA and DHA contents than syrup groups in the samples examined. The peroxide values (PV) of all fish oil capsules and syrups were found in the range of 1.97-2.89mEq/kg and 2.22-18.30mEq/kg, respectively. As for free fatty acids (FFA) values, the C4, S6, S9, and S10 groups were above the 3% oleic acid limit recommended for high-quality oils. However, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARs) values were found below 1mg MA/kg in all groups. All fish oil supplements were within the limits specified in terms of As (0.50-4.19µg/g), Cd (0.14µg/g detected for one group, C5), Cu (not detected), Fe (0.32-15.7µg/g), and Hg (≤ 0.1µg/g). On the other hand, two fish oil supplements from the capsule group (0.17 for C6 and 1.01µg/g for C8) and one group from the syrup group (0.29µg/g for S10) exceeded the recommended limit in terms of Pb (0.1mg/kg). As a result of the research, it can be concluded that the chemical quality of fish oils in syrup form needs to be improved and their reliability in terms of fatty acid content should be increased. Considering the heavy metals, it seems significant to follow up the fish oil products more strictly.

Carbon and nitrogen footprint of different peanut rotation systems in Hubei Province, China.

Clarifying carbon and nitrogen emissions of different peanut rotation planting system can provide an effective reference to achieve high yield, high efficiency, and low carbon and nitrogen emissions. Based on field surveys on agricultural inputs and field managements, we calculated the carbon footprint and nitrogen footprint of three planting modes (rape-peanut rotation, wheat-peanut rotation and peanut monoculture) in Huanggang, Hubei Province. The results showed that compared with wheat-peanut rotation, carbon emission per unit area of rape-peanut rotation decreased by 7.8%, carbon emission per unit net present value decreased by 36.9%, the nitrogen emission per unit area decreased by 12.5%, and nitrogen emission per unit net present value decreased by 41.9%. Compared with peanut monoculture, rape-peanut rotation reduced carbon and nitrogen emissions by 19.6% and 30.8%, respectively. The net income of rape-peanut rotation was 1.4 times as that of wheat-peanut rotation and 2.4 times as that of peanut monoculture. It is suggested that rape-peanut rotation could achieve the synergistic benefits of high yield and efficiency and low carbon and nitrogen emissions, which is conducive to the green, high quality, and high efficiency production of oil crops.

A REVIEW OF THE TECHNO – ECONOMIC POTENTIALS OF BALANITES AEGYPTIACA OIL

Plants oil are becoming important in commerce and nutrition worldwide as they are good source of dietary energy and raw material for the manufacture of industrial products. Despite this fact little attention has been given to Balanites aegyptiaca oil. Therefore there is growing interest in understanding the potential of Balanites aegyptiaca oil as feedstock for improving livelihoods of communities in dryland areas. Balanites aegyptiaca is a multipurpose tree species in dry land of Africa. The plant seed kernel produces high quality oil that amounts for 9-10 % by weight of the whole fruit. Its seed kernel has high oil content (50 %) whose extraction is economically worthwhile. The oil parameters revealed that the oil composed of long chain fatty acids with high degree of unsaturation, making it a good feedstock for biodiesel production. It also has biologically active properties which contribute in its medicinal application. The oil is fulfilling in saturated fatty acids, as such are accustomed as cooking oil. Balanites aegyptiaca oil may be useful for industrialists that produce eco-friendly soap. Therefore, conversion of the oil to different products will help in domestication of this neglected and underuse dryland tree species. This may advocate wise use of renewable natural resources and not protection without possible economic benefit. Thus, Balanites aegyptiaca oil is a multipurpose feedstock with high economic potential and industrial applications if richly exploited. Furthermore, many prospective exploitation possibilities will emerge when further researches are made on this multipurpose oil.

Evaluation of quality and yield indicators of seeds of widespread varieties of milk thistle in Ukraine

In the conditions of the Left-Bank Forest-Steppe of Ukraine field researches of four recognized in Ukraine varieties of milk thistle (Boykivchanka, Poltavka, Medea, Sirius) were carried out. It was established that the seed yield indicators of the studied varieties ranged from 9.3 c/ha to 15.9 c/ha. The maximum yield was characterized by the variety Medea, which forms an average of 5 productive baskets per plant with an average of 2 g of seeds from the basket. According to the results of laboratory studies, it was found that the content of silymarin in the seeds (2.9–4.2%) varieties meet the current regulatory quality requirements with a significant predominance. The analysis of fatty acid composition of oil varieties indicates a high content of linoleic acid — 58.78–62.39% of the amount of fatty acids, which is evidence of high quality oil of all studied varieties of milk thistle.

Co-pyrolysis of torrefied biomass and coal: Effect of pressure on synergistic reactions

The co-utilization of torrefied biomass and coal in thermochemical conversion technologies is an attractive process for the transition to green energy and chemicals. The main advantage of this process is the production of high quality oil products (closer resembling crude-oil) via synergistic interaction of primary products from the two feedstocks. These synergistic reactions often involve secondary reactions, which are promoted at high pressures. This paper reports quantitative results on the extent of synergistic reactions and the role of pressure on these reactions during co-pyrolysis of torrefied biomass and coal. Torrefied biomass was produced at 280 °C in a pilot rotary kiln and subsequently both pyrolysis and co-pyrolysis of torrefied biomass and coal was investigated in a fixed bed reactor (heating rate 7 °C/min) at temperatures of 400–600 °C and pressures of 1, 15 and 30 bar. The results show that the prior removal of hemicellulose during torrefaction maximized the potential of hydrogen transfer from cellulose/lignin-derived products to depolymerized coal fragments. Furthermore, the dehydration and condensation reactions of depolymerized fragments were suppressed during co-pyrolysis in favour of synergistic reactions between the fragments. These reactions occurred predominantly in the molten/liquid phase and their rates could be indirectly controlled by pressure (through changing the evaporation rate), resulting in substantial changes in product distribution. In the presence of coal and its released vapours, the methoxyphenols (guaiacols) and furanics yields were significantly enhanced (positive deviation >54% and >40%, respectively, compared to additive predictions), whereas the phenol yields were inhibited (negative deviation >20%); suggesting the inhibition of demethoxylation reactions in the presence of coal depolymerized fragments. To date no studies have reported the molten phase synergistic reaction pathways occurring during co-pyrolysis of torrefied biomass and coal. Based on the findings in this paper, reaction pathways were proposed for these molten phase synergistic reactions.

Biocrude Oil Production by Integrating Microalgae Polyculture and Wastewater Treatment: Novel Proposal on the Use of Deep Water-Depth Polyculture of Mixotrophic Microalgae

Microalgae have attracted significant attention worldwide as one of the most promising feedstock fossil fuel alternatives. However, there are a few challenges for algal fuels to compete with fossil fuels that need to be addressed. Therefore, this study reviews the R&D status of microalgae-based polyculture and biocrude oil production, along with wastewater treatment. Mixotrophic algae are free to some extent from light restrictions using organic matter and have the ability to grow well even in deep water-depth cultivation. It is proposed that integrating the mixotrophic microalgae polyculture and wastewater treatment process is the most promising and harmonizing means to simultaneously increase capacities of microalgae biomass production and wastewater treatment with a low land footprint and high robustness to perturbations. A large amount of mixotrophic algae biomass is harvested, concentrated, and dewatered by combining highly efficient sedimentation through flocculation and energy efficient filtration, which reduce the carbon footprint for algae fuel production and coincide with the subsequent hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) conversion. HTL products are obtained with a relatively low carbon footprint and separated into biocrude oil, solid, aqueous, and gas fractions. Algae biomass feedstock-based HTL conversion has a high biocrude oil yield and quality available for existing oil refineries; it also has a bioavailability of the recycled nitrogen and phosphorus from the aqueous phase of algae community HTL. The HTL biocrude oil represents higher sustainability than conventional liquid fuels and other biofuels for the combination of greenhouse gas (GHG) and energy return on investment (EROI). Deep water-depth polyculture of mixotrophic microalgae using sewage has a high potential to produce sustainable biocrude oil within the land area of existing sewage treatment plants in Japan to fulfill imported crude oil.

Intercropping and mixed herb distillation for high-quality oil yield using lemon-scented basil (Ocimum africanum Lour.) cv. CIM-Jyoti and lemongrass (Cymbopogon flexuous (Nees ex Steud.) cv. Krishna

Intercropping and sole cropping of lemongrass and lemon-scented basil crops were evaluated to know the utility of lemongrass intercropping with lemon-scented basil oil yield and chemical profiles by utilizing the space available during the initial lag phase to increase the essential oil yield and income of the farmer. The results showed that Intercropping of lemongrass variety Krishna with variety CIM Jyoti of lemon-scented basil recorded significantly higher essential oil yield than different cultivation/cropping of lemongrass and lemon-scented basil. Meanwhile, the essential oil obtained after distillation of lemongrass, lemon-scented basil, and both oil samples are analyzed for chemical composition. A mixed distillation of lemongrass and lemon-scented basil recorded a higher percentage of citral I and citral II than lemongrass and lemon-scented basil. Also, camphor percentage is higher in the mixed sample compared to others. However, caryophyllene, citronellol, and geraniol percent were higher in lemon-scented basil than other essential oil samples. The gross income obtained under intercropping of lemongrass and lemon-scented basil during the initial lag phase was significantly higher than the sole cropping of lemongrass and lemon-scented basil. The co-distillation of lemon-scented basil lemongrass didn't impact odour and altered their essential oil's chemical profile.

Detailed investigations of the influence of catalyst packing porosity on the performance of THAI-CAPRI process for in situ catalytic upgrading of heavy oil and bitumen

Heavy oils and bitumen are indispensable resources for a turbulent-free transition to a decarbonized global energy and economic system. This is because according to the analysis of the International Energy Agency’s 2020 estimates, the world requires up to 770 billion barrels of oil from now to year 2040. However, BP’s 2020 statistical review of world energy has shown that the global total reserves of the cheap-to-produce conventional oil are roughly only 520.2 billion barrels. This implies that the huge reserves of the practically unexploited difficult-and-costly-to-upgrade-and-produce heavy oils and bitumen must be immediately developed using advanced upgrading and extraction technologies which have greener credentials. Furthermore, in accordance with climate change mitigation strategies and to efficiently develop the heavy oils and bitumen resources, producers would like to maximize their upgrading within the reservoirs by using energy-efficient and environmentally friendly technologies such as the yet-to-be-fully-understood THAI-CAPRI process. The THAI-CAPRI process uses in situ combustion and in situ catalytic reactions to produce high-quality oil from heavy oils and bitumen reservoirs. However, prolonging catalyst life and effectiveness and maximizing catalytic reactions are a major challenge in the THAI-CAPRI process. Therefore, in this work, the first ever-detailed investigations of the effects of alumina-supported cobalt oxide–molybdenum oxide (CoMo/γ-Al2O3) catalyst packing porosity on the performance of the THAI-CAPRI process are performed through numerical simulations using CMG STARS. The key findings in this study include: the larger the catalyst packing porosity, the higher the accessible surface area for the mobilized oil to reach the inner coke-uncoated catalysts and thus the higher the API gravity and quality of the produced oil, which clearly indicated that sulphur and nitrogen heteroatoms were catalytically removed and replaced with hydrogen. Over the 290 min of combustion period, slightly more oil (i.e. an additional 0.43% oil originally in place (OOIP)) is recovered in the model which has the higher catalyst packing porosity. In other words, there is a cumulative oil production of 2330 cm3 when the catalyst packing porosity is 56% versus a cumulative oil production of 2300 cm3 in the model whose catalyst packing porosity is 45%. The larger the catalyst packing porosity, the lower the mass and thus cost of the catalyst required per m3 of annular space around the horizontal producer well. The peak temperature and the very small amount of produced oxygen are only marginally affected by the catalyst packing porosity, thereby implying that the extents of the combustion and thermal cracking reactions are respectively the same in both models. Thus, the higher upgrading achieved in the model whose catalyst packing porosity is 56% is purely due to the fact that the extent of the catalytic reactions in the model is larger than those in the model whose catalyst packing porosity is 45%.

Genetic studies of oil content in safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.)

Safflower is an ancient oilseed crop and has been acknowledged as a healthy vegetable oil. Though India is the largest producer, the area under safflower has been declining mainly due to low productivity and less profitability. Safflower genotypes with higher oil content would help to make the crop commercially viable and regain its area owing to its high oil quality compared to its competitive counter parts. The genetic improvement of safflower for higher oil content is an urgent need and involves an understanding of genetics of the trait. A-1, a popular highly resilient variety in India since 1969 with good yield has low oil content of 28% and needs to be improved for oil content. Baccum-92, a Mexican line with high oil of 37% was used in a cross with A-1 to develop 6 generations to study the inheritance of oil content and to simultaneously identify the segregants with high yield and oil content. The six generation mean analysis revealed that additive, dominance components and epistatic interactions of additive × additive and dominance × dominance with duplicate gene interaction determined the inheritance of oil content. One (43.52%) and 3 (ranging from 39.06 to 39.98%) segregants having 5% superiority over the better parent Bacum-92 were observed in F2 and BC1P1, respectively. 5 segregants with higher yield than A-1 coupled with high oil content of more than 31% were identified across the populations which can be stabilized and used in safflower improvement.

A Recyclable Dipping Strategy to Stabilize Herring (Clupea harengus) Co-products During Ice Storage

Applying value-adding techniques to fish filleting co-products is rendered difficult due to their high susceptibility to lipid oxidation, microbial spoilage, and amine formation. In this study, a recyclable dipping strategy was developed and investigated for its ability to stabilize herring (Clupea harengus) co-products (head, backbone, caudal fin, intestines, belly flap, skin, and in some cases roe) against oxidation and microbial spoilage. From initial screening of seven antioxidative components/formulas in minced herring co-products during ice storage, an oil-soluble rosemary extract (RE-B) and isoascorbic acid (IAA) were identified as most promising candidates. These compounds were then formulated to a recyclable solution to be used for dipping of the herring co-products. The commercial Duralox MANC antioxidant mixture was used as a positive control. Dipping in 0.2% RE-B solution ± 0.5% IAA or in 2% Duralox MANC solutions remarkably increased the oxidation lag phase from < 1 day to > 12 days during subsequent storage on ice (0–1 °C) of minced or intact co-products, respectively, even when the antioxidant solutions were re-used up to 10 times. The dipping also reduced microbiological growth and total volatile basic nitrogen, but the effect became weaker with an increased number of re-using cycles. The presented dipping strategies could hereby facilitate more diversified end use of herring co-products from current fish meal to high-quality minces, protein isolates, or oils for the food industry.