Published in Scientific Bulletin. Series F. Biotechnologies, Vol. XXI
Written by Ovidiu IORDACHE, Iuliana DUMITRESCU, Floarea PRICOP, Elena VĂRZARU, Cornelia MITRAN, Andreea CHIVU, Steliana RODINO

In the present study, several microbial strains were isolated in pure cultures from wastewater treatment plant of Giurgiu Nord Technological and Industrial Park, from five withdrawal points along the treatment process: point A, as the entry point of total water content after textile technological processes; point B, after colloidal particles removal stage with Al₂(SO₄)₃ coagulant; point C, after mechanical filtration, chemical treatment and sedimentation process stages, point D, from the water obtained after applying treatment technological stages, mixed with sewage water, plus point E, from the soil located in the vicinity of the treatment plant, characterized by high microbial load. Four semisynthetic agarized nutritive media (PDA, MA, Czapek-Dox, Sabouroud), supplemented with 0.5% chloramphenicol for inhibition of certain bacterial species, were used for isolation of microbial load from the targeted samples. Highest microbial loads and variety were highlighted on plates isolated from soil (E samples), followed by A samples, B samples, and D samples, while C samples registered the lowest growth yield, possible due to inhibitory action of Al_2- (SO₄)₃ coagulant. Morphological analysis of the obtained cultures revealed both filamentous fungi strains specific growth) and bacterial growth. Isolated strains will be used in further tests, as both inactivated and viable microbial biosorbents, for removal of specific wastewater pollutants from aqueous solutions.

[Read full article] [Citation]

SPUPOPUPNO1

Published in Scientific Bulletin. Series F. Biotechnologies, Vol. XX
Written by Mioara Ancuța DUMITRU, Gabriel CORBU, Ștefana JURCOANE

Leather industry discharges enormous amount of chrome containing leather solid wasted which creates a major disposal problem. Tanned leather solid waste is a complex of hard-to-degrade proteins and chromium. The biotechnological sector allows us to use the waste materials as bacterial substrate for enzyme production. The present work covers potential application in the potato bio-growth as fertilizer. The hydrolysate results from bacterial conversion of leather components. Bacteria was isolated from the composting of leather and incubated into a minimal media for 120 hours at 35°C. In the optimization process maximum proteinase production was 1.223 U/ml. The results obtained suggested that leather debris containing amino-acids and proteins andcan be applied as organic nitrogen soil input.

[Read full article] [Citation]

SPUPOPUPNO1

Read full article 

Published in Scientific Bulletin. Series F. Biotechnologies, Vol. XX
Written by Caterina TOMULESCU, Roxana STOICA, Claudia SEVCENCO, Angela CĂŞĂRICĂ, Mişu MOSCOVICI, Adrian VAMANU

This review aimed to present a short summary of the biosynthesis, properties and industrial applications of levan, as a multiuse biopolymer. During the past years, a great number of bacterial polysaccharides have been discovered and nowadays, many studies about their molecular structure, biosynthesis and industrial development, or their functional properties establish correlations emphasizing their significant industrial value, especially as biomaterials. Levan and inulin are the main representative molecules, in the fructans group (as non-structural carbohydrates - fructose polymers). Levan is an extracellular polysaccharide (EPS), a biologically active polymer. It is a naturally occurring homopolymer of fructose, which can be found in plants and many microbial strains. Its main plant sources are: Agropyron cristatum, Dactylis glomerata, Poa secunda, Triticum aestivum, Cocksfoot and Pachysandra terminalis. As an EPS, levan is also produced, usually from sucrose-based substrates, by a variety of microorganisms: the most known microbial levan producers belong to the genera Zymomonas, Bacillus, Acetobacter, Aerobacter, Pseudomonas, Erwinia, Gluconobacter, Streptococcus and Corynebacterium. Many research works attribute levan a variety of potential applications in various fields, like: medical, chemical, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food industries. General properties like film-forming ability, flexibility, renewability, biocompatibility, biodegradability and ecofriendliness, along with a number of remarkable physical, chemical and biomedical properties, made levan a superior biopolymer in many commercial sectors.

[Read full article] [Citation]

SPUPOPUPNO1

Read full article 

Published in Scientific Bulletin. Series F. Biotechnologies, Vol. XX
Written by Magdalini KROKIDA, Maria TAXIARCHOU, Antonis POLITIS, Antonis PEPPAS, Konstantina KYRIAKOPOULOU

The dairy industry consists one of the most energy intensive food industries, with milk powder production being the most energy consuming process. The aim of this work is to present the state of the art skimmed milk powder production processing chain in order to identify the processes with high environmental and energy impact. A life cycle assessment (LCA) has been performed to analyse the environmental footprint and energy balance derived from the skimmed milk powder (medium heat) production on the post-harvest chain. Therefore, a comparative gate to gate LCA was performed within the boundaries of the processing plant (i.e. standardization/separation, homogenization, pasteurization, evaporation, spray drying). In this study, two scenarios were evaluated on their environmental performance: a) the conventional production of skimmed milk powder (SMP) with the inclusion of Reverse Osmosis (Scenario 1) and b) the production of SMP exclusion of Reverse Osmosis (Scenario 2). The standard framework of LCA was followed according to the ISO 14044, which is also in line with the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) Handbook. LCA study was performed on Gabi 6 software with databases from within the food industry. Inventory data were collected from the industry and completed using the literature and databases, impact categories were evaluated adopting a CML method with the energy analysis carried out based on the cumulative energy demand (CED).

[Read full article] [Citation]

SPUPOPUPNO1

Read full article 

Published in Scientific Bulletin. Series F. Biotechnologies, Vol. XXI
Written by Mihaela Cristina DRĂGHICI, Paul Alexandru POPESCU, Adina BAICU, Mona Elena POPA

Berries are worldwide recognized as valuable source of polyphenols, especially anthocyanins, micronutrients, and fibers. They are mainly industrialized as frozen fruits but also in jams, or pies. Some berries are commercially important but there are some limitations such as: short shelf life of fresh fruit and soft texture which require special attention on the berry chain logistic. The berry industry varies from country to country as well as the types of berries cultivated or wild berries. Berries are one of the greatest assets of the Romanian forests and they are known to be products of a very high. Berries originating from non-polluted forests are very popular in the foreign markets. Unfortunately, most often they are sold in foreign markets without being locally processed and thus Romanian processors are losing valuable Romanian customers. To analyze the requirements of the industry companies (production, harvesting and distribution of native berries) a questionnaire was designed and used as a research tool. This questionnaire represents a direct tool of collecting data and to communicate with the respondents. To investigate the value chain of berry fruits and its challenges, we opted for two ways: self-administered questionnaire which was either filled in on the spot or sent by electronic mail, then filled in by the person interviewed, and the questionnaire filled in by phone which was a faster and cheaper way to obtain the necessary answers. Over 200 questionnaires were sent by email to local branches of the National Forest Administration (ROMSILVA) but only 31 were filled in and sent to us. By phone, 20 persons of interest responded to our questionnaire.

[Read full article] [Citation]

SPUPOPUPNO1

Published in Scientific Bulletin. Series F. Biotechnologies, Vol. XXII
Written by Georgiana-Aurora ŞTEFĂNOIU, Elisabeta Elena POPA, Amalia Carmen MITELUŢ, Mona Elena POPA

A marketing research using a quantitative method based on a questionnaire was conducted. The structure of the questionnaire was made taking into account the objective that have been pursuing in this study, namely the assessment of consumers' skills and perceptions in connection with the application of RF treatment technology in order to prolong the shelf life of packaged bakery products, in the conditions of eliminating the addition of synthetic additives. The questionnaire was distributed online via Survey Gizmo platform. The results obtained showed that among the consumers, most young people and especially women from urban areas, innovative technologies are not so well known, especially the products obtained through the use of these technologies. The paper presents the results of the questionnaire in terms of consumer preferences related to shelf-life, sensory characteristics, price and openness to products treated by innovative methods.

[Read full article] [Citation]

SPUPOPUPNO1

Published in Scientific Bulletin. Series F. Biotechnologies, Vol. XX
Written by Aglaia BURLACU, Călina Petruța CORNEA, Florentina ISRAEL-ROMING

Xylan is the major constituent of hemicellulose, the second most abundant natural polymer on earth. There are four main categories of xylans: arabinoxylans, glucuronoxylans, glucurono arabinoxylans and galacto glucurono arabinoxylans. The side chains of each xylan are being responsible for the solubility, physical conformation and reactivity of the xylan molecule with other components of the hemicellulose and therefore, influencing the mode and extent of enzymatic cleavage. Xylanases, as glycoside hydrolase members, are able to catalyse the hydrolysis of xylan, by breaking the β-1,4-glycoside linkages, in order to produce simpler compounds such as xylose. Because of the heterogeneity and complex chemical nature of xylan, the complete breakdown requires the action of several hydrolytic enzymes that are different considering their structure, the substrate specificities, their mode of action or biochemical properties. Many degrading microorganisms produce xylanases such as fungi (Aspergillus spp., Trichoderma spp.), bacteria (Bacillus spp., Streptomyces spp.), yeast (Cryptococcus spp.), marine algae etc. Depending on the source, microbial xylanases have different characteristics, that makes them useful for an application or another. Worldwide, the market of xylanases has expanded rapidly because of its potential in industrial use, especially in the biotechnological applications. In this review, are presented the significant aspects concerning the complete hydrolysis of xylan, and therefore of hemicellulose.

[Read full article] [Citation]

SPUPOPUPNO1

Read full article 

Published in Scientific Bulletin. Series F. Biotechnologies, Vol. XXI
Written by Tomina PURCARU, Camelia DIGUŢĂ, Florentina MATEI

The microbiological control of veterinary products needs an integrated approach, being part of the quality assurance in the pharmaceutical industry. During the production of a phytopharmaceutical product of veterinary use it is compulsory to have a standardized method for the quantification of the microbial charges (fungi and bacteria) from the raw vegetal material to the final product. Our work has been focused on the microbial charges of a new phytoimmunomodulator veterinary product based on Inula sp., Eupatorium sp. and Helleborus sp. For the product standardisation several attempts have been done and one part of the work was related to microbiological criteria fulfilment. The microbial charges have been quantified according to adapted method developed by the authors and correlated to limits recommended by European Pharmacopeia. In the case of the raw dried and grounded plants the total mesophilic aerobe bacteria load is much higher than the recommended limits, while the fungal load has reached almost the maximum recommended limits. Acceptable contents of coliforms and no traces of Salmonella have been detected in the final product. The phytopharmaceutical company to patent and produce the new veterinary product, should make efforts especially in the raw material procurements, as long as their actual sources comes with a much more higher content in aerobe bacteria than the recommended limits. Supplementary measures should be taken to avoid in this context the cross-contamination.

[Read full article] [Citation]

SPUPOPUPNO1

Published in Scientific Bulletin. Series F. Biotechnologies, Vol. XXII
Written by Georgia OLARU, Elena Mona POPA

Microencapsulation is a tehnological process in which solid, liquid or gaseous substances of small size are completely surrounded by individual polymeric coatings to avoid physical and chemical and for maintain the biological and physicochemical properties of core materials. Microencapsulation can be applied with success to entrap natural compounds, like vegetal extracts. Essential oils could have antibacterial and antifungal properties and have screened as potential sources of novel antimicrobial compounds. In food science and biotechnology, microencapsulation involves incorporating of natural ingredients, volatile additives, polyphenols, enzymes, bacteria into small capsules, giving them stability, protection and preservation, against nutritional losses, acting as antimicrobial agents. The aim of this literature review is to describe and functional properties and the benefits of various oils with antimicrobial activity obtained from natural herbals, application of encapsulated oils in food industry and microencapsulation techniques.

[Read full article] [Citation]

SPUPOPUPNO1

Published in Scientific Bulletin. Series F. Biotechnologies, Vol. XX
Written by Mihai Bogdan NICOLCIOIU, Gabriela POPA , Florentina MATEI

Increasing demand for edible or medicinal mushrooms has led to investigation into the suitability of sawdust and agricultural wastes as substrates for commercial production. Effective use of bio-resources by waste-free processing and production of nutraceuticals or ingredients for functional foods are the main directions in biotechnology. The aim of this work was to evaluate the growth capacity of mushroom mycelia on substrates of sawdust or agricultural wastes mixed with different amendments. Four variants of agricultural substrates (wheat and sorghum each of them mixed with CaSO₄ and dolomite amendments) and seven mushroom species (Flammulina velutipes, Laetiporus sulphureus, Ganoderma lucidum, Ganoderma applanatum, Hericium coralloides, Trametes versicolor and Lepista nuda) were used. The mycelial cultures were initially grown in Petri dishes on 2 % malt extract agar or PDA media at 25°C in the dark. After one week, the mycelium of each mushroom species was transferred to different sterilized grain, wheat, sorghum or barley straws or sawdust as substrates with various amendments. Various degrees of grain coverage with mycelia depending on substrate and mushroom species were obtained. The results obtained give the possibility of high quality inoculum using cheap renewable resources and the future extension of the research at the mushroom farm for evaluating the effectiveness of this inoculum for fruiting bodies obtaining. Better utilization of these recyclable materials by mushroom cultivation releases important land surfaces and also eliminates the polluting factors from the terrestrial ecosystems. After finishing the culture cycle, the spent substrate represents a valuable reusable resource as constituent material in nutritional mixtures for horticultural cultures, in bioremediation of some degraded soils or contaminated with various pollutants, of waste water, having a positive impact on improving the sorrounding environment.

[Read full article] [Citation]

SPUPOPUPNO1

Read full article