Milled Samples Research Articles

Phase changes in mechanically activated spodumene-Na2SO4 mixtures after isothermal heating

Mixtures of spodumene + Na2SO4 with a mass ratio of 1:0.5 were prepared and milled using either zirconia or metallic media in a planetary ball mill for 5 h. The milled samples were heated in a furnace at temperatures ranging from 800 °C to 1000 °C for one hour under an air atmosphere. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results showed the traces of new phases such as LiNaSO4 and β-spodumene in the produced calcine after isothermal roasting. Increasing temperature resulted in increasing formation of LiNaSO4 and the XRD results were consistent with a thermodynamic assessment of the spodumene-Na2SO4 mixture. The results showed that changing the milling media did not have a significant role in formation of phase(s) during isothermal heating regime. The XRD results revealed that LiNaSO4 was the major phase after heating a 5 h milled mixture of spodumene-Na2SO4 in both metallic and zirconia media at 1000 °C. There were signs of β-spodumene observed in the sample heated at 800 °C however the peaks of this phase were overlapped with LiNaSO4 phase. The dissolution of lithium during leaching in water reached ~92% for the 5 h milled samples after heating at 1000 °C irrespective of milling media used.

Theae nigrae folium: Comparing the analytical performance of benchtop and handheld near-infrared spectrometers

We investigated caffeine and l-theanine, quality characteristics for camellia sinensis, in milled and ground black tea samples with near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy giving a direct comparison between the performances of benchtop and handheld NIR spectrometers. The constructed partial least squares regression (PLSR) models for all spectrometers were validated by test-set-validation and according to the obtained root mean square errors of prediction (RMSEP). The performances of the spectrometers were as follows: The benchtop spectrometer NIRFlex N-500 (Büchi, Flawil, Switzerland) showed the best results for milled samples with a RMSEP of 0.14% for caffeine and 0.12% for l-theanine. For the ground samples, a RMSEP of 0.17% for caffeine and 0.12% for l-theanine was gained. While the handheld spectrometers MicroNIR 2200 (Viavi Solutions (former: JDS Uniphase Corporation), Milpitas, USA) and the microPHAZIR (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, USA) both provided good results for the prediction of caffeine in milled samples (RMSEP of 0.22% and 0.26%), only the microPHAZIR was able to satisfactorily determine the caffeine content in ground samples (RMSEP of 0.28%). The investigation of l-theanine with handheld spectrometers did not lead to convincing results, since R2 was 0.75 for milled samples while ground samples could not be calculated. Decisive differences were concluded in how different NIR instruments capture the chemical information on caffeine vs. l-theanine. The handheld spectrometers manifested limited applicability to l-theanine. Deeper insight was obtained through the detailed NIR band assignments of caffeine and l-theanine derived from quantum mechanical simulation. Narrow working spectral region of handhelds omits the characteristic absorption bands of l-theanine. Therefore, information on l-theanine content measured by the evaluated miniaturized spectrometers is insufficient to enable its effective quantification. In contrast, the most characteristic NIR absorption of caffeine matches the working spectral regions of the handheld NIR spectrometers, hence their performance is comparable with the benchtop device.

Experimental assessment on LPG fire extinguishing properties of three chemical powders before and after milling action

SummaryThe extinguishing performance of three dry chemical powders (DCPs) was investigated through a lab‐scale suppression system for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) fire. The magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH)2), sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3), and commercial ABC − MAP powders are used to prepare two groups of samples: raw samples and milled samples. The effect of milling action on the properties of DCPs, such as the bulk density, microstructure, particle size, thermal decomposition, and the extinguishing performance, is analyzed. The density test revealed that the bulk density increased after milling, and the Mg(OH)2 had a lower density than the other powders. The microstructure analysis showed that the milled powders had a smaller particle size and more regular shapes than raw powders. The thermal analysis demonstrated that the powder decomposition process was somewhat similar with a slight difference in initial decomposition temperature and degradation rate. The fire tests proved that the extinguishing efficacy greatly improved after the samples were milled. Moreover, the experiments indicated that the milled Mg(OH)2 was superior in fire extinguishing to the other samples with shorter extinction time and less agent quantity consumed. Based on the results, it can be inferred that the milling action has a significant influence in enhancing the extinguishing mechanisms' efficiency of DCPs.

Understanding Concomitant Physical and Chemical Transformations of Simvastatin During Dry Ball Milling

The present study investigates concomitant processes of solid-state disordering and oxidation of simvastatin during milling. The separate dry ball milling of crystalline and amorphous powders of simvastatin were conducted at ambient temperature for 10 and 60 min each. The relative crystallinity was determined using X-ray scattering and oxidative degradation was analyzed using liquid chromatography. The physical and chemical transformations in the milled powder were evaluated using modulated differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The disordering during milling of the crystalline powder was found to progressively decrease the crystallinity. For the amorphous starting material, milling for 10 min induced a large extent of recrystallization, while milling for 60 min largely re-amorphized the powder. This solid-state disordering and/or ordering were accompanied by progressive air oxidation during milling. The infrared spectroscopic analysis revealed the molecular manifestations associated with the physicochemical transformations in the disordered solid states. The melting point of simvastatin depressed systematically with the increase in the degree of disorder as well as the degradation. The in situ cooling in DSC of milled samples from their molten state led to the formation of the co-amorphous phase between the drug and degradation products, which showed a consistent increase in glass transition temperature with the increase in the content of degradation products. The study overall demonstrates the solid-state re-ordering and disordering of crystalline and amorphous simvastatin accompanied by chemical degradation as the consequence of the mechano-activation.

Quantitative and qualitative characterization of dual scale mechanical enhancement on cellulosic and crystalline-structural variation of NaOH treated wheat straw

In order to explore the effects of different mechanical fragmentation on cellulose separation and cellulose polymorphic transformation of wheat straw during alkali treatment, one coarse milled (CM) and two ball milled wheat straw samples (BM30 and BM120) were treated with different NaOH concentrations (1%–10%), and the lignocellulosic compositions and crystalline-structural various were quantitative and qualitative characterized. The quantitative equations between cellulose content and NaOH concentration of different mechanical treated samples were YCM = 69.8–35.1exp(−0.64X)), YBM30 = 71.3–35.1exp(−0.86X)) and YBM120 = 73.5–35.1exp(−1.82X)). The enhancement effect of cellulose separation with the increasing mechanical fragmentation intensity is mainly due to the increasing hemicellulose solubilization. X-ray diffraction results reveals that the NaOH concentration required for cellulose crystalline transformation of CM, BM30 and BM120 is 10%, 8% and 2%, respectively. In conclusion, mechanical fragmentation contributes to cellulose separation and cellulose crystalline transformation under lower NaOH concentration.

Enhancement in magnetoelectric properties of lead-free multiferroic composite through high-energy mechanical milling

Ferrite-Ferroelectric composites with the generic formula y(Mn0.5Cu0.5Fe2O4)1 − y[Ca0.1Ba0.9Zr0.1Ti0.9] (y = 25%, 50% and 75%) are prepared by solid-state reaction. One of the prepared samples of the composites 25%Mn0.5Cu0.5Fe2O4–75%Ca0.1Ba0.9Zr0.1Ti0.9O3 (MCF-CBZT) is subjected to high-energy mechanical milling for different durations (12 h, 18 h and 30 h). The compositional stoichiometry of all the samples is checked by Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy. All the un-milled and milled samples are characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, FTIR, magnetometry, and dielectric and magnetoelectric coefficient measurements. Magnetoelectric composite possesses biphasic surrounding to exhibit complex behavior of ME effect. The present study reveals influence of mechanical milling on MCF-CBZT magnetoelectric composite. The XRD confirms the presence of ferrite and ferroelectric phases for all the samples and microstructural changes appear in SEM images of milled specimens. FTIR spectra show four characteristic bands in 400–800 cm−1 range. Saturation magnetization and Curie temperature decrease as milling duration increases. Relaxed broad doublet with the distribution of nuclear hyperfine fields is found in Mossbauer spectra indicating good coupling between ferrite-ferroelectric phases caused by mechanical milling for the multiferroic composite. The frequency response of dielectric constant and loss tangent is recorded in the frequency range from 100 Hz to 1 MHz. The static value of magnetoelectric factor has been studied as a function of magnetic field for un-milled and milled MCF-CBZT samples. The maximum value 382 μV/cm·Oe of (ME)H is observed for the 18 h milled MCF-CBZT sample.

Mechanical alloying of Ga2O3 and Ga2O3-Al2O3

Mechanical milling of Ga2O3 powder and a mixture of Ga2O3 and Al2O3 was performed with the intent to prepare a (AlGa)2O3 alloy. Vibrational milling was conducted with stainless steel or zirconia ceramic balls. The milled samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, Raman spectroscopy, and microscopic observation. During the mechanical milling of Ga2O3, the monoclinic β-Ga2O3 phase was transformed into the corundum α-Ga2O3 phase, and the phase transition was presumed to be similar to that induced by pressure loading. The fraction of α-Ga2O3 phase increased with milling time in a manner consistent with the Johnson–Mehl–Avrami (JMA) equation. Mechanical alloying of the Al2O3-Ga2O3 system was performed for 1200 h. Although the XRD and Raman peaks for both α-Al2O3 and α-Ga2O3 were broadened with increasing alloying time, and some of the peaks gradually merged, no distinct evidence of the production of single-phase (Al0.5Ga0.5)2O3 was obtained. It is thus difficult to synthesize the (Al0.5Ga0.5)2O3 phase by powder metallurgy methods.

Nanostructured iron rich (Fe-Co)70 Mn10 Ti10 B10 mechanically alloyed powder: Synthesis and characterizations studies

Nanostructured Fe-Co-Mn-Ti-B alloyed powder samples were prepared by mechanical alloying. The structural and magnetic properties are investigated by using x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, electron dispersive x-ray spectroscopy and also vibrating sample magnetometer. After 80 h of milling time, the grain size attains the lowest value about 30 nm. The coercivity values show almost an increasing trend up to ending stage of milling time. The magnetic characterizations of annealed milled sample for 100 h milling time at 900 °C demonstrate low coercivity (~33 Oe) and relatively high saturation magnetization (~138 emu/g) values.

Pengaruh Katalis Fe2O3 Pada Tabung Penyimpanan Hidrogen Berbasis MgH2 Melalui Teknik Mechanical Alloying

<p>Hydrogen is an alternative energy that has a very abundant amount in nature, three-fourths of all elements in nature are hydrogen. Abundance can be developed because it can be converted into electrical energy and is expected to be able to replace fossil materials that are increasingly depleting in the future. For the management of hydrogen, a very safe storage is needed. One of the efforts by inserting hydrogen in certain metals. Magnesium is one material that is able to absorb hydrogen. But it has a disadvantage, namely the absorption and release time is very slow, this is due to the strong bond between hydrogen and magnesium. Several attempts have been intensively studied to improve the properties of Magnesium including the use of materials in the form of nanocrystals with Mechanical alloying techniques and efforts to add certain catalysts are now being actively studied. Research on the addition of Hematite (Fe2O3) catalysts to hydrogen storage materials has been carried out through Mechanical alloying techniques based on MgH2-Fe2O3. Hematite purely derived from nature has been successfully extracted chemically (precipitation method). The milled MgH2-Fe2O3 alloy samples were then analyzed by XRD and showed that the MgH2-Fe2O3 material was successfully reduced to the nanocrystal scale. The addition of catalysts and extended milling time also showed a decrease in desorption temperature.</p>

Effect of High-Energy Ball Milling on Molten Salt Synthesized Barium Hexaferrite Powder

M-type hexagonal ferrite powder was prepared by the molten salt flux method calcined at a relatively low temperature (850 °C) with a product yield of 99.87%. The synthesized sample was then milled for 3 h by high-energy ball milling in toluene suspension to obtain ultrafine nanoparticles. The structural, morphological, and magnetic properties of the particles were investigated to observe the effect of milling on the molten salt synthesized powder. The analyses reveal the presence of barium hexaferrite (BaFe12O19) as the main phase with less impurities. Average crystallite size, determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), decreased from 81 ± 20 nm to 52 ± 5 nm after ball milling. The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra ensure the tetrahedral and octahedral positions in barium hexaferrite structure with an increase in the intensity of absorption bands after milling. The electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) signal shows a broad line that demonstrates a decrease in the amplitude of the milled sample. Furthermore, remanence measured by vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) increases from 8.5 to 25 emu/g. A 72% increase in coercivity and 84% increase in magnetic saturation is observed for the milled samples compared to that of pure BaFe12O19 (unmilled). The variations of the magnetic properties are thus attributed to the reduction in crystalline size and lattice parameters after milling.

Successful Synthesis of Graphene Aluminum Composite with Improved Microhardness

In this work we1 successfully prepared aluminum-graphene composite (0.2 wt%) after 6 hrs of successful ball milling. The ball milling experiments were conducted between 2 and 6 hrs. The microstructal and spectroscopic comparison of aluminium-graphene composites were studied by evaluating properties by characterizing via XRD, FESEM, TEM, Micro Raman and microhardness. The second order disorder peak (2D) was found grow with milling time. In the Raman spectra intensity of 2D addresses about exfoliation take place of graphene in the composite. 0.2 wt% added graphene shows higher hardness than aluminium. Sintering of composites were done at 600 0C. Separation of stacking of carbon layers was confirmed from improvement of D peak in the ball milled samples. Sheet type structure of graphene was shown in TEM study. XRD confirms composite formation.

Radiocaesium sorption on natural glauconite sands is unexpectedly as strong as on Boom Clay

The Neogene-Paleogene glauconite sands of Belgium cover the Boom Clay deposits that are candidate host for radioactive waste disposal. It is unclear if the highly permeable sand formations may act as an additional barrier for radiocesium (137Cs) or could be added as a complementary sorption sink in a surface disposal concept. Glauconite is an Fe-rich phyllosilicate that is mainly present as 250–125 μm sized pellets in sand, it is unknown to what extent and how fast these pellets may bind 137Cs. Pelletized clays embedded in sand may have poorly accessible high affinity sites for 137Cs. The 137Cs sorption on 11 different glauconite sands was measured in batch in a background solution of 0.1 M CaCl2 and 0.5 mM KCl. The log transformed 137Cs distribution coefficient Kd (L kg−1) after 30 days reaction ranged 3.4–4.3, surprisingly close to the Kd of the Boom Clay (3.5). Isolated glauconite fractions exhibited similar 137Cs sorption potentials (log Kd 4.1–4.3) as the reference Illite du Puy (4.4). The small Kd variation among the Neogene-Paleogene sands was explained by its glauconite content (r = 0.82). The 137Cs sorption kinetics (1–57 days) of milled pellets (<2 μm) confirmed slower reaction with intact pellets than with milled samples. Additionally, the Kd values of milled samples (57 days) sorption are 1.1–1.5 fold larger than the corresponding intact pellets, suggesting that not all Cs binding sites are accessible in intact pellets. Strongly weathered pellets exhibited cracks (visible with SEM). In these pellets the Kd was similar for milled and intact pellets suggesting that cracks increase the accessibility of the inner sorption sites. After 8.5 months the Kd values were 1.6–1.8-fold above corresponding 1 month data and these long-term reactions were more pronounced as total sand K content was larger. An adsorption-desorption experiment illustrated that 137Cs sorption is not fully reversible.

Classification of lignocellulosic matrix of spines in Cactaceae by Py-GC/MS combined with omic tools and multivariate analysis: A chemotaxonomic approach

Pyrolysis coupled to gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) is a fast analytical technique used to characterize different lignocellulosic materials. Additionally, cheminformatics allows processing the vast amount of information obtained from Py-GC/MS for the classification of such materials. Here we characterized the lignocellulosic matrix of the spines in species of Cactaceae by Py-GC/MS; omic tools were used for processing the mass spectra in order to classify the species and identify chemical characters with taxonomic value. Fresh spines samples were collected from mature individuals belonging to 15 species of Cactaceae with known phylogenies. All samples were cleaned by ultrasonication and sequential Soxhlet extraction. Milled samples were analysed by Py-GC/MS and mass spectra were deconvoluted, identified, aligned and annotated using omic tools before the multivariate analysis. A total of 451 compounds were identified and aligned: ketones, esters, alcohols, furans and hydrocarbons were the main classes. Furan, furfural, butane and ethylene oxide were the main derivatives produced from carbohydrates, while the p-hydroxyphenyl (H) and guaiacyl (G) derivatives, as well as catechols, were the only compounds produced from lignin. Abundance patterns shared by different clusters of species were identified, obtaining a good resolution at the genus level. Lignin derivatives were preponderant for the identification of some groups of species, such as those of Cacteae, Selenicereus-Deamia and Opuntia. An incongruent clustering for Disocactus and Echinocereus species was found; environmental effects and characters convergence are evoked as the probable causes. A good taxonomic correspondence was obtained by combining the clustering and factorization analyses.

Potential patch antenna application with particle size variation in polycrystalline gadolinium iron garnet (GdIG)

The effect of different particle size obtained by diverse milling time towards the microstructure and magnetic properties of gadolinium iron garnet (GdIG) at room temperature was reported in this research work. Gadolinium iron garnet (GdIG) has been mechanically alloyed at 3, 6, 9 and 12 h followed by sintering at 1200 °C. The samples were characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and impedance analyser. All milled samples were in nanosized of 36.9, 27.2, 19.2 and 20.8 nm for 3, 6, 9 and 12 h, respectively. The single phase of gadolinium iron garnet (GdIG) with average grain size of 0.66, 0.67, 0.72 and 0.69 μm, respectively, showed low initial permeability and low magnetic loss when applied with low-frequency range. The effect of magnetic properties was proven to be dominantly contributed by sintering process. The result illustrated that the polycrystalline GdIG has the ability to be applied as potential patch antenna application.

Areal Surface Roughness Optimization of Maraging Steel Parts Produced by Hybrid Additive Manufacturing.

We report on an experimental study and statistical optimization of the surface roughness using design of experiments and the Taguchi method for parts made of 1.2709 maraging steel. We employ a hybrid additive manufacturing approach that combines additive manufacturing by selective laser melting with subtractive manufacturing using milling in an automated process within a single machine. Input parameters such as laser power, scan speed, and hatching distance have been varied in order to improve surface quality of unmachined surfaces. Cutting speed, feed per tooth, and radial depth of cut have been varied to optimize surface roughness of the milled surfaces. The surfaces of the samples were characterized using 3D profilometry. Scan speed was determined as the most important parameter for non-machined surfaces; radial depth of cut was found to be the most significant parameter for milled surfaces. Areal surface roughness could be reduced by up to 40% for unmachined samples and by 23% for milled samples as compared to the prior state of the art.

Non-destructive Surface Residual Stress Profiling by Multireflection Grazing Incidence X-Ray Diffraction: a 7050 Al Alloy Study

The multireflection grazing incidence X-ray diffraction method (MGIXD) was used to analyze the surface residual stresses in 7050 Al alloy samples. This technique can provide a non-destructive stress profile in function of sample depth, avoiding the relaxation effects intrinsic to destructive methods. The state of residual stress in aeronautical aluminium samples was modulated by milling and shot peening processes. After structural characterization, the residual stress states of the samples were analyzed by multireflection and conventional stress measurement methods. The milled samples presented tensile surface residual stress relaxation attributed to thermal effects and the shot peened samples showed strong compressive stress at sub-surface, which intensity was reduced near the surface. The residual stress profiles of the Al samples were obtained by MGIXD method that evidenced properties commonly undetected in conventional residual stress studies.

Effect of Ball Milling Treatment on Thermal, Structural, and Morphological Properties of Phosphated Starches from Corn and Pinhão

AbstractIn the previous study, the effect of chemical modification with sodium tripolyphosphate on the properties of corn and pinhão starches was evaluated. However, physical modifications also confer specific characteristics on the starch, diversifying its application. Thus, in this study, thermal (thermogravimetry [TG], differential exploratory calorimetry [DSC]), structural (X‐ray powder diffractometry [XRD], Fourier‐transform infrared [FTIR]) and morphological (field emission gun‐scanning electron microscopy) properties of native and phosphated corn and pinhão starches are evaluated before and after ball milling treatment. In addition, wavelength dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy is applied as a new technique to measure the level of phosphorus and sodium. The incorporation of phosphate groups in starches is confirmed and phosphorus and sodium are reduced after milling. The doubly modified starches show lower moisture retention capacity and lower thermal stability. All treatments reduce the gelatinization enthalpy mainly for double modified starches. Relative crystallinity is drastically reduced after the double modification. Changes in FTIR results are more pronounced after the physical treatment, corroborating with DSC and XRD results. Morphological changes are observed only in the milled samples. Thus, the double modification confer greater changes compared to the isolated modifications.

Size and phase dependent thermal conductivity of TiO2-water nanofluid with theoretical insight

Nanomaterial based heat transfer fluid has become one of the optimistic technologies that ushered a new horizon in the heat transfer process. In this work, TiO2 powder (Degussa P25) was subjected to mechanical milling for 0–16 h and the average particle size was varied from 21.8–13.3 nm. A size induced phase transition of the TiO2 nanoparticles from anatase to rutile was observed and confirmed from both the XRD and RAMAN analysis. It was found that the rutile content increased gradually compared to anatase phase with decreasing particle size. Aqueous TiO2 based nanofluid systems of different milled samples were prepared and heat transfer properties were investigated experimentally. Particle size and phase of the TiO2 nanoparticles both affected the observed thermal conductivity. From the density functional theory based ab initio calculations it was found that the variation in lattice thermal conductivity became negligible when the dimension of the sample is greater than ~23 Å and ~26 Å for rutile and anatase TiO2 respectively, suggesting the phase to be the dominant factor for the observed variation above that size. The DFT study supports our experimental observation indicating that the thermal conductivity of rutile phase is less than that of anatase phase. This work presents for the very first time, a new investigation about the dependency of thermal conductivity on the phase content of TiO2 nanoparticles which may help in explaining various conflicting results in the literature about the thermal conductivity variation of TiO2 based nanofluids.

Hydrogen generation performance of Al–20at%Ca alloy synthesized by mechanical alloying

In this study, the Al–20at%Ca alloy was synthesized by mechanical alloy from the elemental powder mixture. Subsequently, the alloy particles were reacted at room temperature to determine the amount of hydrogen released. For these purposes, the powders reacted with different types of water, such as distilled water, tap water, and seawater, and also in the presence of NaCl and CaO additives. Both milled samples and reaction powders were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), FT-IR, and Raman spectroscopy (RS). The XRD patterns of the powders prepared show a nanocrystalline alloy consisting of a solid-cubic solution of Al and the tetragonal intermetallic phase CaAl4. Studies of XRD and SEM, as well as direct measurements of H2, indicated that the best results of H2 generation were obtained when the alloy reacts with distilled water. Both NaCl and CaO additives improve hydrogen generation, reaching 100% efficiency in distilled water and seawater, and without induction time. Samples with a combination of NaCl and distilled water showed the best reaction times to generate the entire theoretical amount of hydrogen. The XRD and DSC–TGA standards also confirmed the presence of bayerite Al(OH)3 as a secondary reaction product.

Environmental factors influence the innate stimulatory capacity of quinoa proteins

AbstractPlant proteins constitute a rich and complex source of nutrients with health benefits for most populations. However, an ever-growing number of people have been affected by protein allergies and sensitivities. Furthermore, there is evidence suggesting that plant proteins can activate the innate immune system by stimulating the toll like receptor 4 (TLR4)-MD2-CD14 complex in cells of the mononuclear phagocyte system. Therefore, we have explored the effects of genetic variability, agricultural practices and area of cultivation (Andes vs Mediterranean) on the innate stimulatory capacity of quinoa proteins.Plant proteins were exhaustively extracted from milled and defatted samples using salt solutions or enzymatic digestion (pepsin/trypsin) and dialyzed against neutral buffers, sterile filtrated and lyophilized. Ethanol soluble proteins were extracted from the resulting pellet and additionally, milled samples were digested with pepsin and trypsin, dialyzed and sterile filtrated. Extracts were cultured with monocytic cell lines and the concentration of IL-8 and other innate cytokines released was measured in cell culture supernatants after overnight incubation. Additionally, samples were tested with cells transfected with TLR4-MD2-CD14 and the Renilla luciferase reporter gene under the transcriptional control of the IL-8 promoter.We observed that proteins from 4 quinoa cultivars from the Andes (cultivated at 3800 meters above sea level) had very low innate immune stimulatory activity (&lt; 5% of modern wheat). However the same quinoa variants cultivated at sea level had significantly higher bioactivity (&gt; 10 % higher than modern wheat) which was absent in the ethanol extracts and reduced by ~60% in the enzymatically digested extracts. Other samples such as millet and buckwheat also showed reduced bioactivity compared to modern wheat after enzymatic digestion in murine and human cells. To conclude: 1) We have identified that the innate stimulatory activity of quinoa proteins is significantly affected by agricultural practices and area of cultivation; 2) This immune-stimulatory activity can be reduced by enzymatic digestion; 3) Depending on the varieties, cultivation and further processing, plant proteins may impact on the development of allergies and sensitivities.