Fazilet Vardar-Sukan

Foaming: Consequences, prevention and destruction

Abstract This review examines the significance of foaming in bioprocesses, the mechanics of foam formation and destruction, and the methods of foam control and suppression. Emphasis is given to chemical antifoaming agents and characterization of their efficiencies. Criteria for selecting antifoaming agents are discussed.

Recent advances in biotechnology

An overview of fundamental principles, novel application areas of biotechnology and its impact on international economy. Recent developments in the field of biotechnology are covered with the help of short papers and poster abstracts. Thus, relationships between fundamental principles and applications have been defined, while current research in the field as well as future needs and prospects are presented. The book encompasses the whole spectrum of biotechnology, emphasizing both scientific and commercial aspects of new developments and how they can meet the challenges of industry. The book gives a perspective on the current state of biotechnology research throughout the world with the help of contributors from 15 different countries. It is designed to serve as a reference book for both academics and industrialists, indicating new starting points to young researchers for new projects in the field.

Utilization of Olive Cake as a Potential Energy Source in Turkey

With the energy picture getting worse every day, it is now desirable to search for alternative energy sources. This has led to renewed interest in olive cake (OC) as an alternative energy source in Turkey due to some of its advantages, such as negligible sulfur content, reducing environmental impact, low cost compared to fossil fuels, problem-free storage, and lack of transportation requirements if used in an olive oil production facility. OC is a byproduct of olive oil production and is a solid material consisting of seed particles and the fleshy parts of olives. The Mediterranean region represents 98% of the worlds olive tree population. In this regard, Turkey is among the top 5 main olive oil-producing countries in the world. The main objective of the present study is to investigate the potential and utilization of OC in the country. It is estimated that over 360,000 tons of OC, corresponding to an average of 150,000 tons of oil equivalent (toe), were produced in the 2000–2001 season in Turkey. Suitable combustion systems, such as fluidized bed systems, stoker fed from the bottom with secondary air supply, etc., should be used for efficient energy production from the OC. There are no limiting values related to emissions for OC in the Turkish regulations of air quality yet. There are, however, some studies being conducted by the Ministry of Environment for the determination of these limiting values. In light of the present study, it may be concluded that OC is a very promising source of energy in Turkey.

Effects of natural oils on foam collapse in bioprocesses

The foam collapse and foam formation properties of four different simulated fermentation media were compared in the presence and absence of natural oils. It was found that optimum effective natural oil concentration resulting in optimum foam suppression did not always correspond with the optimum for foam collapse, nor the optimum for maximum foam collapse rate.

In vitro release kinetics of pine bark extract enriched orange juice and the shelf stability.

Purpose – This paper seeks to demonstrate a functional beverage incorporating pine bark which is an unutilized forestry waste, determine in vitro release kinetics of enriched beverages, and antioxidant activities, besides assessing their shelf stabilities.Design/methodology/approach – Orange juice was enriched with Pinus brutia, Pinus pinea bark extracts, Pycnogenol®. In vitro release kinetics was determined in pH 1.2 and pH 7.4. Ascorbic acid content, pH, titratable acidity, and colorimetric analyses were analyzed monthly for eight months to determine shelf life. Additionally, total phenol contents and radical scavenging activities were analyzed. Subsequently a consumer acceptance test was conducted among 200 participants.Findings – The release of all extracts in orange juices in pH 1.2 were slower than pH 7.4. The release results were fitted to Higuchi square root of time kinetic model with high determination coefficients. Although total titratable acidity values were in agreement with the trend of mino...

Evaluation of Aegean region agro-industrial wastes as a potential energy source

Especially in the last decade, the interest in energy generation from biomass and waste materials has been increasing in Turkey. The reasons for this are mainly twofold: (1) The utilization of biomass energy creates new job possibilities on the agricultural market, and (2) biomass energy yields lower air emissions than fossil fuels. Parallel to the agro-industrial development in the country, different types of wastes have been dramatically increasing in the Aegean region. The main objective of the present study is to evaluate the potential and availability of the agro-industrial wastes produced in this region with respect to energy production. This evaluation was based on a previously conducted questionnaire-based survey aiming to determine the potential of these wastes in the 8 cities of this region and 2 neighboring cities. The cities all had similar economical and agricultural structure, with business concentrated in 9 different agro-industrial sectors. The evaluation indicates that this region has a significant potential of agro-industrial wastes for energy production, and the results obtained can assist national government for future planning studies. However, a good waste management system should be installed throughout the country for the optimum use of these wastes.

Enzymatic hydrolysis of complex substrates following thermal pretreatment operations

SummaryMost agroindustrial wastes generally undergo various thermal treatments during processing stages. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of different heat treatment methods on hydrolysis efficiency of such natural substrates. It was found that a wet thermal treatment generally increases the rate and degree of hydrolysis, while a dry one has a detrimental effect.

Downstream Processes for Plant Cell and Tissue Culture

Biotechnological cultivation of plant cells and tissues is one of the most challenging fields of recent scientific researches. The requirements of pharmaceutical and food industries in terms of value-added phytochemicals have increased rapidly in the last few years. Therefore, cost-effective and technically sound downstream processes have to be developed in order to supply standardized end-products. Depending on the utilization of the biomass or the culture broth, different types of facilities are needed for the recovery and quali-quantitative analysis. The aim of this chapter is to summarize mass transfer considerations and critically outline the developments in downstream processing of plant cell and tissue cultures by presenting fundamental knowledge as well as the advantages and disadvantages of some conventional and novel techniques such as supercritical fluid and membrane processes. Furthermore, state of the art for recovery and purification of secondary metabolites were discussed in the light of patents via Espacenet database covering US, Japan, European, Korean, and Chinese issued and applied patents and WIPO publications. Innovative downstream processes in combination with hyphenated techniques representing a modern approach to perform fast and reproducible analytical methods for quantification and quality assurance of secondary metabolites are major challenges for industrial-scale applications of plant cell and tissue cultures.

Identification Strategies for Bioactive Secondary Metabolites of Fungal Origin

In the present review article, we have described several fungi as a promising and evolving source of new and bioactive secondary metabolites for drug discovery processes. Also, the review has outlined isolation and identification strategies of known and novel fungal metabolites from endophytic fungi, fungi isolated from marine sources and extreme environments, etc. The chapter highlights how recent advances in biochemistry, genetics, analytical technologies and bioinformatics have significantly influenced the process of discovery of novel bioactive compounds in fungi. Combination of microfractionation, high-resolution mass spectroscopy and liquid chromatography with emerging technologies such as microfluidics has potential to augment the efficiency of identification procedures for novel bioactive molecules and become effective tools for bioengineers to adapt these microorganisms for industrial applications.

An Engineering Approach to Bioinformatics and Its Applications

Biological sciences have witnessed a radical paradigm change in the last 70 years. Vast amounts of data and information have become available. However, life processes have complicated patterns due to numerous multidimensional interactions among different components with spatial and temporal variables. We are now looking at biological processes, from a holistic and integrated perspective, as unified systems. With the synergy created by interdisciplinary approaches, researchers are now trying to interpret the patterns of life processes by elucidating structures, networks, dynamics, and interrelations. The development of bioinformatics as an interdisciplinary field has introduced many sophisticated tools and techniques, to organize the information associated with biological molecules and contribute to our understanding of biological processes. On a larger scale, this has led to many practical applications, not only providing greater depth to biological research but also adding other dimensions to engineering applications. This chapter gives a general overview of the novel bioinformatics tools such as sequencing, gene prediction, protein sequencing and structure prediction, microarrays, gene expression, metagenomics, restriction enzymes, and transformation and of some techniques including recombinant DNA technology, synthetic biology, and engineering of systems. Some examples in medical and clinical applications, including pharmacology, pharmacogenomics, and epigenomics; in industrial biotechnology, specifically for the production of novel compounds and enzymes, food and feed sector, chemical feedstocks, and biofuels and materials; and in agriculture are provided, emphasizing the impact of bioinformatics in different sectors for providing solutions to contemporary challenges. This is supplemented with selected examples of some recent patents demonstrating the potential of bioinformatics in large-scale applications.