Discrete particle simulation of particulate systems: A review of major applications and findings

Increasing demand for fuels and chemicals, driven by factors including over-population, the threat of global warming and the scarcity of fossil resources, strains our resource system and necessitates the development of sustainable and innovative strategies for the chemical industry. Our society is currently experiencing constraints imposed by our resource system, which drives industry to increase its overall efficiency by improving existing processes or finding new uses for waste. Food supply chain waste emerged as a resource with a significant potential to be employed as a raw material for the production of fuels and chemicals given the abundant volumes globally generated, its contained diversity of functionalised chemical components and the opportunity to be utilised for higher value applications. The present manuscript is aimed to provide a general overview of the current and most innovative uses of food supply chain waste, providing a range of worldwide case-studies from around the globe. These studies will focus on examples illustrating the use of citrus peel, waste cooking oil and cashew shell nut liquid in countries such as China, the UK, Tanzania, Spain, Greece or Morocco. This work emphasises 2nd generation food waste valorisation and re-use strategies for the production of higher value and marketable products rather than conventional food waste processing (incineration for energy recovery, feed or composting) while highlighting issues linked to the use of food waste as a sustainable raw material. The influence of food regulations on food supply chain waste valorisation will also be addressed as well as our society's behavior towards food supply chain waste. “There was no ways of dealing with it that have not been known for thousands of years. These ways are essentially four: dumping it, burning it, converting it into something that can be used again, and minimizing the volume of material goods – future garbage – that is produced in the first place.” William Rathje on waste (1945–2012) – Director of the Tucson Garbage project.

Food waste as a valuable resource for the production of chemicals, materials and fuels. Current situation and global perspective

Mineral Nutrition of Higher Plants, 2nd edition, H. Marschner. Academic Press, London (1995), 889, (ISBN 0-12-473543-6). Price: 29.95 Pound Sterling

Glycemic index: overview of implications in health and disease : Is the glycemic index important in human nutrition?

Microbial production of organic acids: expanding the markets.

The change in the density distribution within dough pieces as a result of sheeting was investigated. Doughs were prepared from both weak and strong flours to different gas contents and sheeted between counter-rotating rolls set at different roll gaps. The density profile across the resulting oval of dough was measured, both for unyeasted doughs mixed at atmospheric pressure and at 1 bar positive pressure and allowed to rest for 10 minutes, and for yeasted doughs mixed at atmospheric pressure and sheeted immediately ex-mixer. For the unyeasted doughs the average gas content decreased following sheeting. The decrease was not uniform across the sheeted dough piece, but was least in the middle and greatest at the front edge and at the sides. The extent of degassing of the trailing edge of the dough piece depended strongly on sheeting conditions and on the initial gas content. At low roll gaps or high initial gas contents the trailing edge degassed very little, and in some cases the gas content of the trailing edge actually increased. Similar trends were seen for the yeasted doughs. The results demonstrate that sheeting causes degassing of doughs and also causes a redistribution of gas, such that the resulting gas content is not uniform across the sheeted dough piece.

Degassing of Dough Pieces During Sheeting

In this paper we introduce a technique of microwave based single grain characterisation. The optimum mode and kernel placement was determined experimentally to maximise the frequency shift and change in Q and to minimise the variation in repeated readings due to grain orientation. A measurement of the volume of the grain kernel was combined with the microwave measurements.

Microwave cavity design for single grain mass and moisture characterisation

A discussion covers the challenge of engineering cereal-based biorefineries; argument that cereals are the best raw material option for a sustainable chemical industry; economic issues; success factors, e.g., process engineering innovations and the chemistry of extraction and transformation of cereal components; genetic modification of cereals; and implications on the education of process engineers.

Grant M. Campbell

Papers

Degassing of Dough Pieces During Sheeting

Microwave cavity design for single grain mass and moisture characterisation

Biofuels 1: Cereal potential

Entrainment and disentrainment of air during bread dough mixing

Wheat flour milling: A case study in processing of particulate foods