Agriculture

  2009 DEC 31 - (VerticalNews.com) -- According to recent research from Prague, Czech Republic, "Solid-phase extraction (SPE), solid-phase microextraction (SPME) using carbowax/divinylbenzen fiber, and stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) followed by solvent back extraction have been used for the extraction of free fatty acids (caproic, caprylic, pelargonic, capric, lauric, myristic, palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acids) from beer. Subsequent gas chromatographic analyses with flame ionization detection were used for the determination of these compounds. ...read more

  2009 DEC 31 - (VerticalNews.com) -- "Degradation of simulated winery wastewater was studied in a pilot-scale compound parabolic collector (CPC) solar reactor. Total organic carbon (TOC) reduction by heterogeneous photocatalysis (TiO2) and homogeneous photocatalysis with photo-Fenton was observed," scientists writing in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry report.

  "The influence of TiO2 concentration (200 or 500 mg/L) and also of combining TiO2 with H2O2 or Na2S2O8 on heterogeneous photocatalysis was evaluated. Heterogeneous photocatalysis with TiO2, TiO2/H2O2 and TiO2/S2O82- is revealed to be inefficient in removing TOC, originating TOC degradation of 10%, 11% and 25%, respectively, at best. However, photo-Fenton experiments led to 46% TOC degradation in simulated wastewater prepared with diluted wine (WV) and 93% in wastewater prepared with diluted grape juice (WG), and if ethanol is previously eliminated from mixed wine and grape juice wastewater (WW) by air stripping, it removes 96% of TOC. Furthermore, toxicity decreases during the photo-Fenton reaction very significantly from 48% to 28%," wrote M.S. Lucas and colleagues ...read more

  2009 DEC 31 - (VerticalNews.com) -- According to recent research from Camerino, Italy, "Lentil saponins are triterpene glycosides, mainly soyasaponins I and beta g (also known as VI), with multiple health-promoting properties. This paper reports the isolation of soyasaponins I and beta g from soybeans as analytical standards and the development of a new analytical procedure for quantification of their content in various cultivars of Italian lentils, by SPE-HPLC-MS. ...read more