ABSTRACT The residues from agricultural and agroindustrial activities are not adequately valorised and at best they are destined for animal consumption or else they are inadequately disposed of. The objective of the present work was to estimate and highlight the energy (calorific and electric) potential of second-generation bioethanol production using lignocellulosic waste from the most important crops in Peru. In addition, the reduction of CO2 emissions by using bioethanol produced from those lignocellulosic wastes was estimated. The biomass considered in this study was from the harvest and processing of sugarcane, rice, banana, yellow corn, oil palm and asparagus. It was determined that the annual lignocellulosic biomass availability was ~22 million tons, from which, 33.03% correspond to banana waste, 28.56% correspond to sugarcane waste. The potential of bioethanol production and ener...

ABSTRACT Freezing (-20 °C, 12h) and alkaline (NaOH 8%) pretreatments were applied individually and combined in rice husk (Oryza sativa L.) before their hydrolysis with cellulase (EC: 3.2.1.4.). The effects on structural modifications, lignin content, cellulose, hemicellulose content and glucose production were evaluated. In addition, the glucose production kinetics were described by using the Peleg model. The homogenous rice husk (1 g) with and without pretreatments was hydrolysed with 150 U of Cellulase in 10 ml of acetate for 60 h (37 °C, pH 5.5, 100 rpm). As results, the SEM images evidenced porous microstructures with less agglomeration generated by all pre-treatments, which were intensified by the combined pretreatment. This pre-treatment allowed to obtain higher cellulose (62.51 ± 0.3 %) content. Besides, the glucose content after pretreatments increased. The Peleg model paramet...

ABSTRACT Abstract– The use of edible coverage represents one of the important methods used to preserve the quality of minimally processed products. The aim of this research was to determine the effect of chitosan and essential cinnamon oil coverage in the phenolic content, antioxidant capacity, mould and yeast count, and general acceptability in minimally processed strawberry along 16 days of refrigerated storage at 10 °C, in order to improve the conservation and characteristics of minimally processed strawberry var. aroma. In this experiment a response surface methodology using a Central Composite Rotational Design (CCRD) was carried out; the variable ranges used were 0.7 – 2% (Chitosan) and 0.02 – 0.1% (cinnamon essential oil). As results, it was found that the significant variable (p<0.05) was cinnamon essential oil for both phenols content and antioxidant capacity. For these c...

ABSTRACT This study evaluated the osmotic dehydration (OD) treatments (using sucrose at 60 °Brix and a solution of salt 1.5% (m/m) with sucrose at 45 °Brix) in banana slices. The effects on the mass transfer kinetics (water loss and solids gain) were evaluated and described using the Page, Weibull, Peleg, Azuara, and Lewis mathematical models. Besides, the effect of OD on fat content, instrumental colour, and sensorial attributes was assessed after the frying process. The results showed that water loss occurs firstly and more quickly than solids gain. At the end of OD, the highest water loses (0.31 g water/g sample) and solids gain (0.42 g solid/g sample) were reached using sucrose OD treatment. The water loss and solid gain behaviour were described not only by the kinetics parameters but also by equilibrium parameters values of mathematical models. Furthermore, after frying, the Contr...

ABSTRACT This work evaluated the influence of the concentration of NaOH (100, 200 and 300 g/L NaOH) in the mercerization process at 25 °C for 1 h, and of the percentage (15, 20 and 25% m/m) of Mauritia flexuosa fibers on impact resistance in a polyester matrix composite. The polyester matrix composite was obtained by the compression molding process, at a constant pressure of 24 MPa. The obtained plates had a dimension of 130 mm long x 80 mm wide x 3.4 mm thick. Specimens for the impact assay were extracted from the obtained plates under the EN ISO 179-1 standard. Likewise, the fiber-reinforced composites without treatment were also evaluated, all the fibers were characterized before and after the NaOH treatment by means of the chemical characterization of the fiber, absorption percentage, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy ( FT-IR). The result...