Hydrothermal carbonization of Typha australis: Influence of stirring rate.

According to existing literature, there are no conclusive results on the impact of stirring on hydrothermal carbonization (HTC); some studies report a significant impact on the product's properties, while others indicate no influence. This study investigates the influence of stirring rate on several responses and properties of HTC products, including solid mass yield, solid carbon fraction, surface area, surface functional groups, morphology, and the fate of inorganic elements during HTC. Waste biomass was introduced as a feedstock to a 2 L HTC reactor, where the effects of temperature (180-250 °C), residence time (4-12 h), biomass to water (B/W) ratio (1-10%), and stirring rate (0-130 rpm) were investigated. The findings of this study conclusively indicated that the stirring rate does not influence any of the studied responses or properties of hydrochar under the selected experimental conditions used in this study. Nevertheless, the results indicated that a low-stirring rate (5 RPM) is enough to slightly enhanced the heating-up phase of the HTC reactor. For future research, it is recommended to examine the impact of stirring rate on the HTC of other types of biomass using the methodology developed in this study.

Spent Grain from Malt Whisky: Assessment of the Phenolic Compounds.

In order to extract antioxidant phenolic compounds from spent grain (SG) two extraction methods were studied: the ultrasound-assisted method (US) and the Ultra-Turrax method (high stirring rate) (UT). Liquid to solid ratios, solvent concentration, time, and temperature/stirring rate were optimized. Spent grain extracts were analyzed for their total phenol content (TPC) (0.62 to 1.76 mg GAE/g SG DW for Ultra-Turrax pretreatment, and 0.57 to 2.11 mg GAE/g SG DW for ultrasound-assisted pretreatment), total flavonoid content (TFC) (0.6 to 1.67 mg QE/g SG DW for UT, and 0.5 to 1.63 mg QE/g SG DW for US), and antioxidant activity was measured using 2,2-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical (25.88% to 79.58% for UT, and 27.49% to 78.30% for UT). TPC was greater at a high stirring rate and high exposure time up to a certain extent for the Ultra-Turrax method, and at a high temperature for the ultrasound-assisted method. P-coumaric acid (20.4 ± 1.72 mg/100 SG DW for UT, and 14.0 ± 1.14 mg/100 SG DW for US) accounted for the majority of the phenolic found compounds, followed by rosmarinic (6.5 ± 0.96 mg/100 SG DW for UT, and 4.0 ± 0.76 mg/100 SG DW for US), chlorogenic (5.4 ± 1.1 mg/100 SG DW for UT, and non-detectable for US), and vanillic acids (3.1 ± 0.8 mg/100 SG DW for UT, and 10.0 ± 1.03 mg/100 SG DW for US) were found in lower quantities. Protocatechuic (0.7 ± 0.05 mg/100 SG DW for UT, and non-detectable for US), 4-hydroxy benzoic (1.1 ± 0.06 mg/100 SG DW for UT, and non-detectable for US), and caffeic acids (0.7 ± 0.03 mg/100 SG DW for UT, and non-detectable for US) were present in very small amounts. Ultrasound-assisted and Ultra-Turrax pretreatments were demonstrated to be efficient methods to recover these value-added compounds.

Stirring rate affects thermodynamics and unfolding kinetics in isothermal titration calorimetry.

Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) directly provides thermodynamic parameters depicting the energetics of intermolecular interactions in solution. During ITC experiments, a titration syringe with a paddle is continuously rotating to promote a homogeneous mixing. Here, we clarified that the shape of the paddles (flat, corkscrew and small-pitched corkscrew) and the stirring rates influence on the thermodynamic parameters of protein-ligand interaction. Stirring with the flat paddle at lower and higher rate both yielded a lower exothermic heat due to different reasons. The complete reaction with no incompetent fractions was achieved only when the stirring was performed at 500 or 750 rpm using the small-pitched corkscrew paddle. The evaluation of the protein solution after 1,500 rpm stirring indicated that proteins in the soluble fraction decreased to 94% of the initial amount, among which 6% was at an unfolded state. In addition, a significant increase of micron aggregates was confirmed. Furthermore, a new approach for the determination of the unfolding kinetics based on the time dependence of the total reaction heat was developed. This study demonstrates that a proper stirring rate and paddle shape are essential for the reliable estimation of thermodynamic parameters in ITC experiments.

Influencia del tamaño de partícula y la velocidad de agitación sobre el rendimiento de pectina / Influence of the particle size and the stirring speed over the pectin yield

Introducción: el procesamiento de las hojas de sábila (Aloe barbadensis Mill) para la obtención de productos de interés agroalimentario como el gel, genera varios residuos, entre ellos el bagazo que se obtiene de la molienda de la pulpa. El mismo constituye un recurso económico para la obtención de componentes de amplio uso en las industrias alimentaria y farmacéutica, como la pectina, compuesto de interés por su alto poder gelificante, cuyo proceso de extracción más usado a nivel industrial es la hidrólisis ácida. La extracción de pectina a partir del bagazo de sábila se estudió a escala de laboratorio y se establecieron las condiciones de operación (temperatura, pH y tiempo de extracción) requeridas para maximizar el rendimiento de la pectina, sin embargo, falta estudiar la influencia de la velocidad de agitación y el tamaño de partícula. Objetivo: evaluar la influencia del tamaño de la partícula y la velocidad de agitación en el rendimiento de extracción de la pectina al utilizar la hidrólisis ácida. Métodos: se aplicó la técnica de hidrolisis ácida a escala de laboratorio para extraer pectina del bagazo de sábila. Los factores estudiados fueron: velocidad de agitación (300 y 1 000 min-1) y tamaño de partícula (0,250 y 0,600 mm). El resto de los parámetros se mantuvieron constante: tiempo de reacción (60 minutos), temperatura (90 °C), pH (1,5). La relación soluto/solvente fue fijada en 1:15 y 1:20 m/v, teniendo en cuenta el desarrollo experimental de cada tamaño de partícula. Resultados: las condiciones óptimas en el rango estudiado fueron velocidad de agitación de 1 000 min-1 y tamaño de partícula 0,600 mm y se obtiene un rendimiento de 3,80 por ciento de pectina por cada 5 g de muestra de bagazo seco. Conclusiones: es la velocidad de agitación la que ejerce una mayor influencia, aunque ambos factores resultaron significativos con un 95 por ciento de confiabilidad(AU)

Introduction: the processing of sabila leaves (Aloe barbadensis Mill) to obtain products of agricultural interest such as gel, generates various wastes, including bagasse obtained by grinding the pulp. Bagasse is an economic resource for the production of components widely used in the food and pharmaceutical industries like pectin, an interesting compound because of its high gellifying power and the most used extraction process at industrial level is acid hydrolysis. In particular, the pectin extraction from sabila bagasse was studied on a lab scale; and the operating conditions (temperature, pH and extraction time) required to maximize the pectin yield was established. However, the influence of the stirring speed and the particle size remained to be studied. Objective: to assess the influence of the particle size and the stirring speed on the extraction yield of pectin using acid hydrolysis. Methods: the acid hydrolysis technique was applied to extract pectin from the sabila bagasse. The studied factors were stirring rate (300 to 1 000 min-1) and particle size (0,250 to 0,600 mm). The rest of parameters remained unchanged: reaction time (60 minutes), temperature (90 °C) and pH (1.5). The solute/solvent ratio was set at 1:15 and 1:20 w/v, considering experimental behavior of each particle size. Results: the optimal conditions in the studied range were stirring rate 1 000 min-1 and particle size of 0,600 mm, reaching a pectin yield of 3,80 percent per 5 g sample o dry bagasse. Conclusions: the stirring rate the most influential although both factors were significant with 95 percent reliability(AU)

Stirring rate regulates the proliferation and metabolism of microencapsulated recombinant CHO cells.

Stirred tank bioreactors are the most widely used method for the large-scale culture of mammalian cells. However, the scale of stirred tank bioreactors is limited by insufficient oxygen/nutrient mixing and the accumulation of waste products in high cell density cultures. The most effective method to solve these problems is to increase the stirring rate; this usually leads to increased cell proliferation, but can decrease the utilization of nutrients for recombinant protein synthesis. To investigate the effects of stirring rate on the proliferation, metabolism, and recombinant protein yield of microencapsulated recombinant Chinese hamster ovary (rCHO) cells, the cells were cultured under different stirring rates, and cell viability, metabolic activity, and protein yield were measured. Microencapsulation promoted Desmodus rotundus salivary plasminogen activator expression, and higher stirring rates promoted increases in microencapsulated cell density and metabolic activity. However, the maximum yield of recombinant protein was obtained at a moderate stirring rate, whereas protein yield was decreased at the highest tested stirring rate. The stirring rate had a significant impact on the growth and protein expression of microencapsulated rCHO cells, and a specific stirring rate was identified to maximize the yield of recombinant protein.

In vitro release testing of matrices based on starch-methyl methacrylate copolymers: effect of tablet crushing force, dissolution medium pH and stirring rate.

Direct-compressed matrix tablets were obtained from a variety of potato starch-methyl methacrylate copolymers(1) as sustained-release agents, using anhydrous theophylline as a model drug. The aim of this work was to investigate the influence of the copolymer type, the tablet crushing force and dissolution variables such as the pH of the dissolution medium and the agitation intensity on the in vitro drug release behaviour of such matrices. Commercial sustained-release theophylline products (Theo-Dur(®) 100mg, Theolair(®) 175 mg) were used as standards. Test formulations were compacted into tablets at three different crushing force ranges (70-80, 90-100 and 110-120 N) to examine the effect of this factor on the porous network and drug release kinetics. In vitro release experiments were conducted in a pH-changing medium (1.2-7.5) with basket rotation speeds in the range 25-100 r.p.m. to simulate the physiological conditions of the gastrointestinal tract. The release rate of theophylline was practically not affected by pH in the case of Theo-Dur(®) and HSMMA matrices. In contrast, Theolair(®) and CSMMA tablets demonstrated a biphasic drug release pattern, which appeared to be sensitive to the pH of the dissolution medium. An increase in the crushing force of the copolymer matrices was accompanied by a reduction of the matrix porosity, although the porous network depends markedly on the type of copolymer, having a strong influence on the drug release kinetics. Mathematical modelling of release data shows a Fickian diffusion or anomalous transport mechanism. Based on the similarity factor f2, FD-HSMMA, OD-CSMMA and FD-CSMMA at 90-100 N were selected for agitation studies. In general, all formulations showed an agitation speed-dependent release, with Theo-Dur(®) and FD-CSMMA matrices being the less susceptible to this factor.