• Energy Research

A numerical model of cryo-maceration plant for mashed grapes has been realized to simulate the rapid cooling process for mashed grapes according to the number of nozzles enabled to inject CO2, to their flow and temperature of CO2 injected. ANSYS CFX program was used and two geometries have been considered with the axis of each nozzle orthogonal and parallel to the flow direction. Different boundary conditions have been considered. For the models have been considered the most burdensome condition.

Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) have multiple beneficial effects on human health, in particular docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6, n-3) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5, n-3). A variety of microorganisms has been used for the commercial production of non-animal-source LC-PUFAs. The oomycetes of the Pythium family are promising EPA producers, and in this work, the optimization of Pythium irregulare growth using food industry by-products and wastes as cheap sources of nutrients was carried out. Sugar cane molasses (SCM), spent brewery yeast (SBY), cheese whey (CW), and expired orange juice (EFJ) were tested. A combination of SBY as a source of nitrogen and EFJ as a source of organic carbon resulted in the best outcome among the other sustainable media ingredients. The optimization of the new medium was conducted through a response surface methodology using EFJ and SBY as factors. The results show a significant positive impact of these factors on biomass productivity (p < 0.005), with an optimized biomass yield of 14.22 g L−1, a lipid yield of 2.23 g L−1, and an EPA concentration of 155 mg L−1.

Films for coffee-pod packaging usually contain aluminium as an impermeable foil that is not recyclable and has to be discharged as waste. In this study, a recyclable polypropylene multilayer film is proposed as an alternative. The performance on the chemical composition of coffee was evaluated and compared to that of film containing aluminium (standard). The oxygen in the headspace, moisture, lipidic oxidation, and volatile organic compounds were studied in coffee pods during storage for 12 months at 25 and 40 °C. In addition, the acidity and acceptability of extracted coffee were evaluated. In the polypropylene-packaged pods, the percentage of oxygen during storage at 25 °C was lower than that in the standard. Moisture was not affected by the type of packaging materials. No differences were found between the peroxide values, except in pods stored for 3, 10, and 11 months at 25 °C, where they were even lower than the standard. Furans and pyrazines were the main volatile organic compounds detected. No differences were found in the pH and titratable acidity of the coffee brew either. All samples were well accepted by consumers without any perceived difference related to the packaging film. The polypropylene multilayer film is a sustainable recyclable material with high performance, in particular, against oxygen permeation.

In questo lavoro è stata messa a punto una metodica rapida per la determinazione del contenuto di etanolo nelle bevanda alcoliche applicando la gascromatografia ada alta risoluzione.

The envisaged promotion of local products contributes to environmental protection and is a valid tool for the promotion of socioeconomic development, enhancement of territories, and biodiversity preservation and sustainability. Provolone del Monaco is a semi hard pasta filata cheese granted PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) designation by the European Union. Provolone del Monaco is obtained from raw cow’s milk, produced in the specific areas of the Lattari Mountains and Sorrento Peninsula (Naples, Italy), and ripened for at least six months. To the best of our knowledge, no studies concerning the complete chemical characterization of Provolone del Monaco cheese are available. In the present study; the chemical characterization (moisture; pH; titratable acidity; nitrogen; and fat content), fatty acid composition determined by using gas-chromatography-flame-ionization-detector (GC-FID); volatile organic compounds by solid-phase microextraction followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SPME-GC/MS), and maturation indices were evaluated during ripening. Two different average typical cheese sizes (3 kg and 5 kg) and two different internal portions were studied. After 6 months of ripening, the most important changes recorded were the loss of water, the increase in acidity, the nitrogen (as ammonia) release, and the production of volatile organic compounds. The cheese size did not affect the chemical composition of Provolone del Monaco.

Spray-drying (SD) is widely considered a suitable method to preserve microorganisms, but data regarding yeasts are still scanty. In this study, the effect of growing media, process variables and carriers over viability of a wild wine Saccharomyces (S.) cerevisiae LM52 was evaluated. For biomass production, the strain was grown (batch and fed-batch fermentation) in a synthetic, as well as in a beet sugar molasses based-medium. Drying of cells resuspended in several combinations of soluble starch and maltose was performed at different inlet and outlet temperatures. Under the best conditions-suspension in soluble starch plus maltose couplet to inlet and outlet temperatures of 110 and 55 °C, respectively-the loss of viability of S. cerevisiae LM52 was 0.8 ± 0.1 and 0.5 ± 0.2 Log c.f.u. g(-1) for synthetic and molasses-based medium, respectively. Similar results were obtained when S. cerevisiae strains Zymoflore F15 and EC1118, isolated from commercial active dry yeast (ADY), were tested. Moreover, powders retained a high vitality and showed good fermentation performances up to 6 month of storage, at both 4 and -20 °C. Finally, fermentation performances of different kinds of dried formulates (SD and ADY) compared with fresh cultures did not show significant differences. The procedure proposed allowed a small-scale production of yeast in continuous operation with relatively simple equipment, and may thus represent a rapid response-on-demand for the production of autochthonous yeasts for local wine-making.