Production of dry encapsulated forms of anthocyanins from tulip petals with high antioxidant activity and their utilization in lipsticks.Anthocyanins (of the Greek anthos = flower and kianos = blue) are the most important pigments of the plants. These pigments are responsible of the shiny orange, pink, red, violet and blue colors in the flowers and fruits of some plants. The most interesting substances of the waste material are anthocyanins as natural water soluble antioxidants with a great health benefit besides the coloring properties. Tulip is a perennial bulbous plant which is popular worldwide and especially in the Holland due to the showy flowers of the great variety of colors and shades. It was found that for flowers of different colors biosynthesis of anthocyanins of the three anthocyanidin backbones may occur. Thus, pelargonidin (Pg), cyanidin (Cy) and delphinidin (Dp) derivatives, are responsible for tulip flowers color.
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Anthocyanins do not have a toxic effect, they are safe for humans, and they are of interest as natural dyes. They are used in the food industry, cosmetics, perfumery and medicine. Nowadays, the question of the use of anthocyanins in solar cells is being widely considered. Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) has attracted much attention as a new promising solar to electric convertor because of its low production cost, easy fabrication, more environmental friendliness compared to silicon or perovskite solar cell.
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Despite changing attitudes towards animal testing and current legislation to protect experimental animals, the rate of animal experiments seems to have changed little in recent years. On May 15–16, 2013, the In Vitro Testing Industrial Platform (IVTIP) held an open meeting to discuss the state of the art in alternative methods, how companies have, can, and will need to adapt and what drives and hinders regulatory acceptance and use. Several key messages arose from the meeting. First, industry and regulatory bodies should not wait for complete suites of alternative tests to become available, but should begin working with methods available right now (e.g., mining of existing animal data to direct future studies, implementation of alternative tests wherever scientifically valid rather than continuing to rely on animal tests) in non-animal and animal integrated strategies to reduce the numbers of animals tested. Sharing of information (communication), harmonization and standardization (coordination), commitment and collaboration are all required to improve the quality and speed of validation, acceptance, and implementation of tests. Finally, we consider how alternative methods can be used in research and development before formal implementation in regulations. Here we present the conclusions on what can be done already and suggest some solutions and strategies for the future.
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The seaweed aquaculture sector, aimed at cultivation of macroalgal biomass to be converted into commercial applications, can be placed within a sustainable and circular economy framework. This bio-based sector has the potential to aid the European Union meet multiple EU Bioeconomy Strategy, EU Green Deal and Blue Growth Strategy objectives. Seaweeds play a crucial ecological role within the marine environment and provide several ecosystem services, from the take up of excess nutrients from surrounding seawater to oxygen production and potentially carbon sequestration. Sea lettuce, Ulva spp., is a green seaweed, growing wild in the Atlantic Ocean and North Sea. Sea lettuce has a high nutritional value and is a promising source for food, animal feed, cosmetics and more. Sea lettuce, when produced in controlled conditions like aquaculture, can supplement our diet with healthy and safe proteins, fibres and vitamins. However, at this moment, Sea lettuce is hardly exploited as resource because of its unfamiliarity but also lack of knowledge about its growth cycle, its interaction with microbiota and eventually, possible applications. Even, it is unknown which Ulva species are available for aquaculture (algaculture) and how these species can contribute to a sustainable aquaculture biomass production. The AQULVA project aims to investigate which Ulva species are available in the North Sea and Wadden Sea which can be utilised in onshore aquaculture production. Modern genomic, microbiomic and metabolomic profiling techniques alongside ecophysiological production research must reveal suitable Ulva selections with high nutritional value for sustainable onshore biomass production. Selected Ulva spp lines will be used for production of healthy and safe foods, anti-aging cosmetics and added value animal feed supplements for dairy farming. This applied research is in cooperation with a network of SME’s, Research Institutes and Universities of Applied Science and is liaised with EU initiatives like the EU-COST action “SeaWheat”.
Sea Lettuce, Ulva spp. is a versatile and edible green seaweed. Ulva spp is high in protein, carbohydrates and lipids (respectively 7%-33%; 33%-62% and 1%-3% on dry weight base [1, 2]) but variation in these components is high. Ulva has the potential to produce up to 45 tons DM/ha/year but 15 tons DM/ha/year is more realistic.[3, 4] This makes Ulva a possible valuable resource for food and other applications. Sea Lettuce is either harvested wild or cultivated in onshore land based aquaculture systems. Ulva onshore aquaculture is at present implemented only on a few locations in Europe on commercial scale because of limited knowledge about Ulva biology and its optimal cultivation systems but also because of its unfamiliarity to businesses and consumers. The objective of this project is to improve Ulva onshore aquaculture by selecting Ulva seed material, optimizing growth and biomass production by applying ecophysiological strategies for nutrient, temperature, microbiome and light management, by optimizing pond systems eg. attached versus free floating production and eventually protoype product development for feed, food and cosmetics.
Eggshell particles as bio-ceramic in sustainable bioplastic engineering – ESP-BIOPACK Plastics make our lives easier in many ways. However, if they are not properly disposed of, they end up in the environment. Recently, biodegradable biopolymers, such as polylactic acid (PLA) and polyhydroxy alkanoates (PHAs), have moved towards alternatives for applications such as sustainable packaging. The major limitations of these biopolymers are the high cost, which is due to the high cost of the starting materials and the small volumes, and the poor thermal and mechanical properties such as limited processability and low impact resistance. Attempts to modify PHAs have been researched in many ways, such as blending various biodegradable polymers or mixing inorganic mineral fillers. Eggshell (10 million tons per year by 2030) is a natural bio-ceramic mineral with a unique chemical composition of calcium carbonate (>95% calcite). So far it has been regarded as a zero-value waste product, but it could be a great opportunity as raw material to reduce the cost of biopolymers and to improve properties, including the decomposition process at the end-of-life. In this project, we aim to develop eggshell particles that serve as bio-fillers in biopolymers to lower the cost of the product, to improve mechanical properties and to facilitate the validation of end-of-life routes, therefore, economically enhance the wide applications of such. The developed bioplastic packaging materials will be applied in SME partner EGGXPERT’s cosmetics line but also in other packaging applications, such as e.g. biodegradable coffee capsules. To be able to realize the proposed idea, the partnership between Chemelot Innovation and Learning Labs (CHILL), EGGXPERT B.V. and the Research Centre Material Sciences of Zuyd University of Applied Sciences is needed to research the physical, mechanical and end-of-life influences of eggshell particles (ESP) in biopolymers such as PLA and PHA and optimize their performance.
