Native potato starch is an excellent carrier of minerals due to its inherent ion exchange capacity. Mineral enrichment not only changes the nutritional value but also influences starch pasting and swelling properties. Hydrothermal treatments like annealing constitute a straightforward and green way to tune functional properties. Here, novel combinations of mineral enrichment and annealing were studied. Ion exchange was readily achieved by suspending starch in a salt solution at room temperature over 3 h and confirmed by ICP-OES. Annealing at 50 °C for 24 h using demineralized water or salt solutions strongly affected pasting, thermal, and swelling properties. The obtained XRD and DSC results support a more ordered structure with relative crystallinity increasing from initially 41.7% to 44.4% and gelatinization onset temperature increasing from 60.39 to 65.94 J/g. Solid-state NMR spectroscopy revealed no detectable changes after annealing. Total digestible starch content decreased after annealing from 8.89 to 7.86 g/100 g. During both ion exchange at room temperature and annealing, monovalent cations promoted swelling and peak viscosity, and divalent cations suppressed peak viscosity through ionic crosslinking. The presented combination allows fine-tuning of pasting behavior, potentially enabling requirements of respective food applications to be met while offering an alternative to chemically modified starches.
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This study provides insights into novel combinations of hydrothermal modifications and mineral enrichment by demonstrating the versatility of this environmentally more benign approach compared to other common chemical starch modifications like crosslinking. Heat-moisture treatment (HMT) (15 % moisture, 100 °C) of native potato starch (NPS) affords granular products that gelatinise at lower temperatures, hold more water as gel, and are more susceptible to enzymatic digestion. Prior mineral enrichment of NPS with sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium ions yielded significant changes in pasting curves, with monovalent cations increasing peak viscosity, while divalent cations decrease peak viscosity through ionic crosslinking of phosphate groups, allowing further fine tuning of swelling behaviour. Both short and long HMT (4 h and 16 h) triggered partial disruption of crystallinity and an increase in particle size without visible surface damage as evidenced by X-ray diffraction, laser diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. These novel products may find applications where a thickening agent is needed, and high levels of target minerals are desirable like sport nutrition. The viscosity behaviour, available energy and essential minerals may be beneficial to the formulation and nutritional value of energy gels, while adhering to clean-label requirements of today`s food industry.
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Peat swamp forests in Southeast Asia are under heavy pressure. Deforestation, forest degradation, wildfires, and drainage have damaged or destroyed substantial areas of the once extensive peat swamp forest formations. Several efforts are underway to rehabilitate degraded peat forests areas in order to restore some of the valuable ecosystem services these forested areas once provided. However, these efforts often result in (mixed)-plantations that only partly resemble the original peat forests. Information about these peat swamp forests' complex origin and ecology is needed to improve restoration outcomes further. Our paper analyses historical data from coastal peat swamp forests in Sarawak and Brunei and discusses the potential to use this as the reference value for intact peat forests. We describe the observed stand structure and species composition for pristine peat swamp forest, and we analyze the population structure of three dominant peat swamp forest species: Gonystylus bancanus (ramin), Dactylocladus stenostachys (jongkong) and Shorea albida (alan batu). We compare the historical data with data from recently measured, degraded peat swamp forests. We discuss our results in relation to processes of peat dome formation, nutrient availability and hydrology, and give recommendations for peat swamp forest management and restoration.
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The aim of this document is to outline the preliminary requirements and steps needed to fully establish frameworks for certification systems across Europe, specifically to support and incentivize the restoration of peatlands and to provide a framework for reducing GHG emissions from degraded and mismanaged peatlands on a large scale. This will ensure that peatlands across Europe fulfil their potential to become a net carbon sink by 2050, while optimizing ecosystem service provision in a way that is fully consistent with all the relevant European policies. This report covers the following topics: - Analysis of current Carbon Credit systems and other incentives to support wet peatlands. - Economic land use analysis relating to peatlands. - Outline of a framework to support rewetting and peatland restoration. - Recommendations for an Eco-Credit system across Europe.
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Inaugural lecture as Lector Precision Livestock Farming at HAS University of Applied Sciences on October 14, 2016. PLF, Precision Livestock Farming, uses technologies to continuously monitor animal behaviour, animal health, production and environmental impact.
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In order to gain a more mature share in the future energy supply, green gas supply chains face some interesting challenges. In this thesis green gas supply chains, based on codigestion of cow manure and maize, are considered. The produced biogas is upgraded to natural gas quality and injected into the existing distribution gas grid and thus replacing natural gas. Literature research showed that relatively much attention has been paid up to now to elements of such supply chains. Research into digestion technology, agricultural aspects of (energy) crops and logistics of biomass are examples of this. This knowledge is indispensable, but how this knowledge should be combined to help understand how future green gas systems may look like, remains a white spot in the current knowledge. This thesis is an effort to fill this gap. A practical but sound way of modeling green gassupply chains was developed, taking costs and sustainability criteria into account. The way such supply chains can deal with season dependent gas demand was also investigated. This research was further expanded into a geographical model to simulate several degrees of natural gas replacement by green gas. Finally, ways to optimize green gas supply chains in terms of energy efficiency and greenhouse gas reduction were explored.
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Vanuit het ZEEVIVO project werd in werkpakket B, Bioraffinage, onderzoek gedaan naar het opwaarderen van eiwit uit zeewier. De hoofdvraag was: Hoe is uit zeewier een commercieel interessant eiwitconcentraat te extraheren met een eiwitgehalte van tenminste 60%? Om deze vraag te beantwoorden zijn optimalisatieproeven uitgevoerd in het laboratorium. Daarnaast zijn er extractieproeven op pilotschaal gedaan, gevolgd door het concentreren en zuiveren van de eiwitten in deze extracten met behulp van membraanfiltratie.
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The transition to a biobased economy necessitates utilizing renewable resources as a sustainable alternative to traditional fossil fuels. Bioconversion is a way to produce many green chemicals from renewables, e.g., biopolymers like PHAs. However, fermentation and bioconversion processes mostly rely on expensive, and highly refined pure substrates. The utilization of crude fractions from biorefineries, especially herbaceous lignocellulosic feedstocks, could significantly reduce costs. This presentation shows the microbial production of PHA from such a crude stream by a wild-type thermophilic bacterium Schlegelella thermodepolymerans [1]. Specifically, it uses crude xylose-rich fractions derived from a newly developed biorefinery process for grassy biomasses (the ALACEN process). This new stepwise mild flow-through biorefinery approach for grassy lignocellulosic biomass allows the production of various fractions: a fraction containing esterified aromatics, a monomeric xylose-rich stream, a glucose fraction, and a native-like lignin residue [2]. The crude xylose-rich fraction was free of fermentation-inhibiting compounds meaning that the bacterium S.thermodepolymerans could effectively use it for the production of one type of PHA, polyhydroxybutyrate. Almost 90% of the xylose in the refined wheat straw fraction was metabolized with simultaneous production of PHA, matching 90% of the PHA production per gram of sugars, comparable to PHA yields from commercially available xylose. In addition to xylose, S. thermodepolymerans converted oligosaccharides with a xylose backbone (xylans) into fermentable xylose, and subsequently utilized the xylose as a source for PHA production. Since the xylose-rich hydrolysates from the ALACEN process also contain some oligomeric xylose and minor hemicellulose-derived sugars, optimal valorization of the C5-fractions derived from the refinery process can be obtained using S. thermodepolymerans. This opens the way for further exploration of PHA production from C5-fractions out of a variety of herbaceous lignocellulosic biomasses using the ALACEN process combined with S. thermodepolymerans. Overall, the innovative utilization of renewable resources in fermentation technology, as shown herein, makes a solid contribution to the transition to a biobased economy.[1] W. Zhou, D.I. Colpa, H. Permentier, R.A. Offringa, L. Rohrbach, G.J.W. Euverink, J. Krooneman. Insight into polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production from xylose and extracellular PHA degradation by a thermophilic Schlegelella thermodepolymerans. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 194 (2023) 107006, ISSN 0921-3449, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2023.107006. [2] S. Bertran-Llorens, W.Zhou. M.A.Palazzo, D.I.Colpa, G.J.W.Euverink, J.Krooneman, P.J.Deuss. ALACEN: a holistic herbaceous biomass fractionation process attaining a xylose-rich stream for direct microbial conversion to bioplastics. Submitted 2023.
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