Most prawns are prepared as frozen or canned meat and the remaining waste is used as a feed supplement or directly disposed on to the land, which affects the environment. Fresh prawn bio-waste contains protein, astaxanthin, flavor compounds and chitin. The use of chitin in various applications is limited due to its water insolubility. In this research, a new method is developed to prepare water-soluble colloidal chitin (WSCC) from prawn waste. WSCC having the percentage of degree of deacetylation same with that of chitin follows non-newtonian shear thinning behaviour. The characteristic study showed that the breakage of polymer chains during processing thus reduced the molecular weight and bulk density of WSCC. Therefore, functional properties of WSCC can be controlled by optimizing the processing conditions. Astaxanthin complex has attracted considerable interest in relation to its health benefits because of its powerful antioxidant activity. Traditional extraction of astaxanthin complex from prawn waste using organic solvents requires post-purification steps, creates solvent disposal problem and degrades the pigment. This research develops an efficient way of recovering astaxanthin complex from prawn waste that eliminates the problems associated with solvent extraction methods and offers possible recyclability of the solvents used. Post-harvest blackening in prawns adversely affects both quality and consumer acceptability. However, consumer safety over the chemicals, especially sulphites used in inhibiting prawn blackening is of a major concern. This study shows that the antioxidant, astaxanthin complex can inhibit the poly phenol oxidase (PPO) catalyzed blackening reaction in prawns. Although prawns have astaxanthin complex present in their natural state, its concentration in vivo may not be sufficient to act against PPO. Therefore, astaxanthin complex-enriched feed in prawn culture may prevent prawn melanosis and may eliminate the post-harvest handling methods.

Most prawns are prepared as frozen or canned meat and the remaining waste is used as a feed supplement or directly disposed on to the land, which affects the environment. Fresh prawn bio-waste contains protein, astaxanthin, flavor compounds and chitin. The use of chitin in various applications is limited due to its water insolubility. In this research, a new method is developed to prepare water-soluble colloidal chitin (WSCC) from prawn waste. WSCC having the percentage of degree of deacetylation same with that of chitin follows non-newtonian shear thinning behaviour. The characteristic study showed that the breakage of polymer chains during processing thus reduced the molecular weight and bulk density of WSCC. Therefore, functional properties of WSCC can be controlled by optimizing the processing conditions. Astaxanthin complex has attracted considerable interest in relation to its health benefits because of its powerful antioxidant activity. Traditional extraction of astaxanthin complex from prawn waste using organic solvents requires post-purification steps, creates solvent disposal problem and degrades the pigment. This research develops an efficient way of recovering astaxanthin complex from prawn waste that eliminates the problems associated with solvent extraction methods and offers possible recyclability of the solvents used. Post-harvest blackening in prawns adversely affects both quality and consumer acceptability. However, consumer safety over the chemicals, especially sulphites used in inhibiting prawn blackening is of a major concern. This study shows that the antioxidant, astaxanthin complex can inhibit the poly phenol oxidase (PPO) catalyzed blackening reaction in prawns. Although prawns have astaxanthin complex present in their natural state, its concentration in vivo may not be sufficient to act against PPO. Therefore, astaxanthin complex-enriched feed in prawn culture may prevent prawn melanosis and may eliminate the post-harvest handling methods.

Orientador: Liliane Maria Ferrareso Lona / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Química / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-20T08:34:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Goncalves_NuriaAngelo_M.pdf: 1743980 bytes, checksum: 9b3510495b5ac6cd3d024e2e39b172fa (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Resumo: Ao longo dos últimos anos, com as fortes pressões ambientais e o aumento do preço do petróleo, os biopolímeros vêm recebendo especial atenção como substitutos para os polímeros convencionais. Para ampliar a faixa de utilização destes materiais, têm-se produzido os chamados nanocompósitos poliméricos, que são materiais híbridos consistindo de dois ou mais componentes, apresentando ao menos um destes em escala nanométrica. Com o acréscimo de uma pequena quantidade de agente de reforço, podem-se obter grandes melhoras nas propriedades destes materiais. Dentre as quais, podemos citar as propriedades térmicas e de barreira. Neste trabalho foram sintetizados o poli (L-lactídeo) (PLLA) e os hidróxidos duplos lamelares (HDLs) compostos pelos cátions divalentes/trivalentes cálcio/alumínio, cálcio/ferro, e magnésio/ferro intercalados com o ânion dodecil sulfato (DDS), a partir dos quais foram sintetizados três tipos de nanocompósitos poliméricos com matriz de PLLA e como agente de reforço os HDLs, com as frações mássicas de 1 e 2 %. Os HDLs foram caracterizados pelas técnicas de difração de raios X e espectroscopia de absorção no infravermelho. O PLLA e os nanocompósitos foram caracterizados pelas técnicas de difração de raios X, espectroscopia de absorção no infravermelho, termogravimetria, calorimetria exploratória diferencial e espectroscopia de absorção no UV-VIS. Os resultados obtidos nesse trabalho mostram que a maioria dos nanocompósitos teve uma boa dispersão do agente de reforço na matriz polimérica, bem como, melhoras significantes em suas propriedades quando comparados ao PLLA puro. O aumento da estabilidade térmica dos nanocompósitos foi condizente com uma melhor dispersão do HDL. Com a análise de UV-VIS, observaram-se menores valores de transmitância para os nanocompósitos. Essa melhora nas propriedades dos nanocompósitos pode ampliar a faixa de aplicações deste material em diversas áreas / Abstract: Over the years with strong environmental pressures and rising oil prices, the biopolymers are receiving special attention as substitutes for conventional polymers. To extend the range of use these materials, it has been produced the polymeric nanocomposites, that are hybrid materials consisting of two or more components, presenting at least one, dimensions in nanometer scale. It is shown that an addition of a lower amount of reinforcing agent can enhance the properties those material, such as thermal and barrier properties. In this work, were synthesized three type of nanocomposites of poli (L-lactide) (PLLA) and layered double hydroxide (LDH), with the divalent/trivalent cations calcium/aluminum, calcium/iron and magnesium/iron, intercalated with the dodecyl sulfate anion. The nanocomposites were synthesized using two different concentration (1 and 2 %) of LDH as reinforcing agent. The synthesized HDLs were characterized by X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy analyses and the nanocomposites were characterized by X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric, differential scanning calorimetry and UV-VIS spectroscopy analyses.The results obtained in this work show that most of the nanocomposites exhibit a good dispersion of the reinforcement agent in the polymeric matrix as well as significant improvements on their properties compared with neat PLLA. The enhancement on thermal stability of nanocomposites can be attributed to higher dispersion of reinforcement agent. UV-VIS analysis, it was observed lower transmittance values of all nanocomposites. This improvement in properties of nanocomposites can widen the range of applications this material in several areas / Mestrado / Desenvolvimento de Processos Químicos / Mestre em Engenharia Química

No description available.

In this thesis, a smectite rich bentonite ore deposit from Porto Santo Island (Portugal) was characterized and then applied to prepare clay-biopolymer nanocomposite material. Natural clay sample is mainly composed of Fe rich smectite, having also feldspar, calcite and magnetite-maghemite minerals. Both montmorillonite from the clay source repository (SWy-2) and the Porto Santo bentonite were used for the nanocomposite synthesis. An exocellular polysaccharide – scleroglucan was used as a biopolymer. The X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy results show that smectite is well dispersed in the scleroglucan matrix with partial exfoliation. The study of various experimental parameters reveal that only the scleroglucan/clay mineral mass ratios determine the level of the clay sheets’ dispersion in the polymer matrix. Compared to SWy-2, the Porto Santo bentonite shows a smaller degree of dispersion within the polymer matrix, but nevertheless its potential outstanding mechanical properties could be of interest for further studies.

Submitted by BRENO LUIZ OTTONI null (breno@bauru.unesp.br) on 2016-08-23T15:37:35Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_final_OTTONI_BRENO_repositorio_unesp.pdf: 3950347 bytes, checksum: 2f3574a90c11f0c3e2baed2bb67eefde (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Juliano Benedito Ferreira (julianoferreira@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2016-08-26T14:33:38Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 ottoni_bl_me_bauru.pdf: 3950347 bytes, checksum: 2f3574a90c11f0c3e2baed2bb67eefde (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-26T14:33:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ottoni_bl_me_bauru.pdf: 3950347 bytes, checksum: 2f3574a90c11f0c3e2baed2bb67eefde (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-07-01 / É estimado que a geração de resíduos sólidos passará de 1,3 bilhão para 2,2 bilhões de toneladas até 2025, ocasionando problemas ambientais, sociais e, consequentemente, à saúde pública. A maior problemática neste aspecto envolve o destino inadequado dos resíduos, e no Brasil ainda se destina pouco resíduos à triagem para reciclagem ou compostagem. Neste cenário, as embalagens plásticas oriundas de fonte não renovável de energia possuem baixas taxas de reciclagem. Desta forma, surgem os bioplásticos como alternativa, por serem em sua maioria biodegradáveis. Este estudo visa discutir os aspectos comunicacionais relacionados diretamente às embalagens de bioplásticos e apresentar como a função comunicação nas embalagens podem contribuir para fornecer informações relevantes aos consumidores, a fim de minimizar o problema da destinação inadequada. Utilizou-se a pesquisa qualitativa como método a alcançar os objetivos propostos. Conclui-se que a comunicação, seja nas embalagens de plástico ou bioplástico, deve promover as ações nas pessoas: a não geração, a redução, a reutilização e a reciclagem de resíduos sólidos, gerando, desta forma, um ciclo de solução nas problemáticas abordadas neste estudo. / It is estimated that the solid waste generation will grow from 1.3 billion to 2.2 billion tons by 2025, causing environmental and social problems and therefore, to public health.The biggest problem on this aspect involves the inappropriate disposal of waste and Brazil still intended for little waste sorting for recycling or composting. In this scenario, the plastic packaging from non-renewable energy source have low recycling rates. Thus, bioplastics come as an alternative because they are biodegradable in their majority. This study aims to discuss the communication aspects directly related to bioplastics packaging and presenting how communication function in packaging can help to providing relevant information to consumers in order to minimize the problem of improper disposal. The qualitative research was used as a method to achieve the proposed objectives. It can be concluded that communication, whether in plastic or bioplastic shall promote the actions on people about not generation, reduction, reuse and recycling of solid waste, thus creating a solution cycle on the addressed problems in this study.

In this thesis, a smectite rich bentonite ore deposit from Porto Santo Island (Portugal) was characterized and then applied to prepare clay-biopolymer nanocomposite material. Natural clay sample is mainly composed of Fe rich smectite, having also feldspar, calcite and magnetite-maghemite minerals. Both montmorillonite from the clay source repository (SWy-2) and the Porto Santo bentonite were used for the nanocomposite synthesis. An exocellular polysaccharide – scleroglucan was used as a biopolymer. The X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy results show that smectite is well dispersed in the scleroglucan matrix with partial exfoliation. The study of various experimental parameters reveal that only the scleroglucan/clay mineral mass ratios determine the level of the clay sheets’ dispersion in the polymer matrix. Compared to SWy-2, the Porto Santo bentonite shows a smaller degree of dispersion within the polymer matrix, but nevertheless its potential outstanding mechanical properties could be of interest for further studies.

In recent years, there has been a growing interest within the field of soft materials engineering on the development of advanced hydrogel systems with well-defined chemistries and morphologies that can be customized to suit various applications ranging from biomedical to environmental to personal care. In any case, careful selection of the building block materials, crosslinking chemistry, degradation pathway, and overall hydrogel architecture is essential to ensure the final design (and the resulting degradation components if relevant) are safe/non-toxic, mechanically tunable, and overall translatable for their intended end use given industry safety/production standards. In this thesis, the utility of starch nanoparticles created by a reactive extrusion process was explored as one such building block for creating renewable hydrogels. Starch was reactively extruded by EcoSynthetix Inc. to create starch nanoparticles (SNPs) that are attractive as hydrogel building blocks due to their inherent small size (25-50 nm), generally safe degradation products, overall net neutral charge, high deformability/viscoelastic properties, stability in solution without collapsing or changing size (on the order of months), and the ability to be manufactured at a multiple kg/hr rate; in comparison, other manufacturing methods of SNPs suffer from a lack of scalability or require the use of potentially toxic solvents, making them less amenable to biological or environmental/agricultural applications. The amorphous nature of the starch also allows for facile functionalization to further chemically modify and/or crosslink the SNPs through surface functional group (i.e. hydroxyl) modification chemistries. The nanoparticle nature of the SNP building block, coupled with the facile functionalizability of the SNPs, also makes SNPs ideal building blocks for the design and fabrication of nanoparticle network hydrogels (NNHs) in which NPs create an interconnected network on their own on, in addition to, other polymeric networks at any desired length scale. There are a variety of NNH architectures that can be achieved through careful design considerations. More specifically, herein colloidal NNHs were created using UV photopolymerization post-functionalization with methacrylic anhydride, which leaves a vinyl group on the SNP surface. Alternately, plum pudding NNHs were created by mixing aldehyde-functionalized SNPs with amine-bearing O-carboxymethyl chitosan that were able to chemically react via hydrolytically labile imine bonds. The properties of various types of colloidal and plum-pudding hydrogels based on SNPs were tested and subsequently compared through a range of different performance tests such as rheological and micromechanical force testing, swelling/degradation kinetics, their potential for controlled bioactive release, and overall toxicity (cell and organ level). In addition to these macroscopic performance tests, the internal morphologies of both colloidal and plum pudding NNHs were assessed with small angle and very small angle neutron scattering experiments to glean insight into how these internal structures correlate to macroscopic properties. For all experiments, the effect of using SNPs versus typical cold water-soluble branched starch (SS) was assessed to further understand the impact of making hydrogels from nanoscale rather than soluble polymer building blocks, with the small size of SNPs compared to the large hydrodynamic radius of SS consistently allowing for greater control over the range of potential hydrogel properties. The results of these studies suggest that SNP-based NNHs are promising materials for studying the encapsulation and release of small molecules in both in vitro and in vivo settings. For example, the photopolymerization of methacrylated SNP-based NNH coatings can be fabricated at much higher concentrations than possible with conventional starch (35% for SNP, 10% for SS), leading to denser and stiffer gels compared to SS controls albeit with slightly longer gelation times due to the reduced conformational mobility of the polymerizable methacrylate groups on the SNPs. The addition of charge (cationic or anionic) to the SNP surface further increases the bulk gelation time while significantly reducing the observed changes in SNP deformation during photogelation as confirmed via very small angle neutron scattering experiments. Other functional groups were also demonstrated to be introduced to SNPs to enable different types of gelation for different applications. For example, in situ-gelling and degradable bulk nanoparticle network hydrogels consisting of oxidized starch nanoparticles (SNPs) and carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCh) were created for intranasal delivery that could be delivered into the nose via a commercial atomization device to enable high nasal mucosal retention and functional controlled release of the peptide drug PAOPA, a positive allosteric modulator of dopamine D2 receptor. Selected gels shown to alleviate negative behavioural abnormalities associated with for up to 72 hours in pre-clinical rat models of schizophrenia at a low drug dosage (0.5 mg/kg), compared to just a few hours with the drug alone. Finally, the functionalization of SNPs with hydrophobic groups (via grafting the starch with octenyl succinic acid (OSAn) or succinic anhydride (SAn)) was demonstrated as a promising delivery system for agricultural applications. Hydrophobization increased the contact angle of a sprayed watermelon and pumpkin leaves from <60˚ (unmodified) to ~80˚ when modified (DS 0.25), while confocal fluorescence microscopy confirmed that the hydrophobized SNPs can both adhere to the leaf surface as well as penetrate into the leaves when sprayed due to their small size (25-50 nm). Future work will look at other methods of crosslinking SNPs (i.e. Michael addition, hydrazone, and alkyne-azide “click” chemistry, amongst others) to see if there are beneficial differences compared to analogous hydrogels made from macroscopic alternatives (i.e. polymers alone) and to follow-up the findings already gleaned within this thesis. Further information on the impact and potential follow-up experiments for the work conducted in this thesis will be explained in Chapter 6 on final outlooks and conclusions of the following work. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis describes the chemical and physical modification of commercially-available starch nanoparticles (SNPs) to rationally create novel hydrogel systems. These gel-like networks are made by chemically connecting starch nanoparticles (with sizes on the 10-8 m length scale) by introducing various reactive chemical groups onto the surface of SNPs, enabling the creation of hydrogels with well-defined structures, features, and properties. Careful selection of the crosslinking chemistry made it possible to tune hydrogel properties to specific application requirements, such as the targeted delivery of pharmaceuticals (including the intranasal delivery of antipsychotic drugs to the brain, a key technical challenge to improve the quality of life of patients with mental health challenges) and agrochemical agents or as an anti-fouling coating. The hydrogels created herein are attractive since they directly incorporate nanoscale particles generated from a sustainable source and are generally regarded as safe (GRAS) in terms of their degradation products once they break down, a rare trait for nanoparticles of this size. The existing industrial-scale production of the SNPs also enables facile scaling of these strategies for ultimate commercial translation.

No description available.

Temperature-phased anaerobic digestion (TPAD) has become increasingly appealing in recent years due to the pathogen destruction capabilities of the system. However, there has also been concern about the dewatering properties of the sludges created by these systems. A laboratory study was conducted at Virginia Tech to determine the effect of thermophilic solids retention time (SRT) on sludge dewatering properties, to characterize system parameters associated with dewatering, and to understand the mechanisms causing changes in dewatering properties between the thermophilic and mesophilic phases. The study showed that while anaerobic digestion caused dewatering properties to deteriorate, sludges varied little with thermophilic SRT. Acidogenesis was essentially complete after 1.5 days. Subsequent mesophilic digestion resulted in little change to dewatering properties and modest reductions in conditioning doses, but substantial reductions in biopolymer (protein + polysaccharides) occurred. It appears that thermophilic anaerobic digestion creates or releases colloidal materials that cause dewatering to be poor and subsequent mesophilic digestion for 15 days does little to improve sludge properties of TPAD systems. / Master of Science