Thangavelu Viruthagiri

Bio: Thangavelu Viruthagiri is an academic researcher from Annamalai University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Fermentation & Response surface methodology. The author has an hindex of 23, co-authored 65 publications receiving 1713 citations.

Lipase applications in food industry

Abstract: Lipases are the most pliable biocatalyst and bring about a wide range of bioconversion reactions, such as hydrolysis, interesterification, esterification, alcoholysis, acidolysis and aminolysis. Lipases can act on a variety of substrates including natural oils, synthetic triglycerides and esters of fatty acids. They are resistant to solvents and are exploited in a broad spectrum of biotechnological applications. Lipase catalyzed transesterification, hydrolysis and esterification are the important class of reactions for food technology applications in fats and oil industry, dairy industry, pharmaceuticals and bakery industry. Lipases are very peculiar as they hydrolyse fats into fatty acids and glycerol at the water-lipid interface and can reverse the reaction in non-aqueous media. Novel biotechnological applications, like biopolymer synthesis, biodiesel production, treatment of fat-containing waste effluents, enantiopure synthesis of pharmaceuticals and nutraceutical agents, have been established successfully. The present article extends the frontier of lipase technology towards food processing applications and discusses the important characteristics of lipases and its sources. Various methods of lipase immobilization for food technology applications, various assay methods for lipase, production of lipase by submerged and solid state fermentation strategies, and various purification methods available have been discussed in detail.

Recent Trends in the Production, Purification and Application of Lactic Acid

Abstract: Lactic acid, a naturally occurring multifunctional organic acid, is a valuable industrial chemical used as an acidulant, preservative in the food industry, pharmaceutical, leather, and textile industries, as well as a chemical feedstock. One of the most promising applications of lactic acid is its use for biodegradable and biocompatible lactate polymers, such as polylactic acid. Lactic acid can be produced either by fermentation or by chemical synthesis but the biotechnological fermentation process has received significant importance due to environmental concerns, use of renewable resources instead of petrochemicals, low production temperature, low energy requirements and high purity. There are numerous investigations on the development of biotechnological methods for lactic acid production, with an ultimate objective to enable the process to be more efficient and economical. This review discusses the various recent fermentation technologies to produce lactic acid, different microorganisms involved in the production of lactic acid, purification and wide industrial applications of lactic acid.

Fermentative production and kinetics of cellulase protein on Trichoderma reesei using sugarcane bagasse and rice straw

Abstract: Cellulase a multienzyme made up of several proteins finds extensive applications in food, fermentation and textile industries. Trichoderma reesei is an efficient producer of cellulase protein. The comparative study was made on various carbon sources on the production of cellulase using strains of T. reesei QM 9414, 97.177 and Tm3. Pretreatment of sugarcane bagasse and rice straw offers very digestible cellulose and potentially less inhibition. Cellulase production was enhanced by multiple carbon sources because of diauxic pattern of utilization of substrates. This is the first attempt of combining the synthetic substrate (xylose, lactose) with natural substrate (sugarcane bagasse, rice straw). The mixture of substrates produced the highest maximal enzyme activity on cellulose with xylose, cellulose with lactose, bagasse with xylose, bagasse with lactose, rice straw with xylose and rice straw with lactose. In addition Monod growth kinetics and Leudeking piret product formation kinetics were studied using T. reesei with optimized medium under optimized conditions of inoculum concentration, D.O. level, agitator speed, temperature and pH.

The Design and Analysis of Experiments

Abstract: THE DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF EXPERIMENTS. By Oscar Kempthorne. New York, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1952. 631 pp. $8.50. This book by a teacher of statistics (as well as a consultant for \"experimenters\") is a comprehensive study of the philosophical background for the statistical design of experiment. It is necessary to have some facility with algebraic notation and manipulation to be able to use the volume intelligently. The problems are presented from the theoretical point of view, without such practical examples as would be helpful for those not acquainted with mathematics. The mathematical justification for the techniques is given. As a somewhat advanced treatment of the design and analysis of experiments, this volume will be interesting and helpful for many who approach statistics theoretically as well as practically. With emphasis on the \"why,\" and with description given broadly, the author relates the subject matter to the general theory of statistics and to the general problem of experimental inference. MARGARET J. ROBERTSON

Biodiesel production through the use of different sources and characterization of oils and their esters as the substitute of diesel: A review

Abstract: The world is confronted with the twin crises of fossil fuel depletion and environmental degradation. The indiscriminate extraction and consumption of fossil fuels have led to a reduction in petroleum reserves. Petroleum based fuels are obtained from limited reserves. These finite reserves are highly concentrated in certain region of the world. Therefore, those countries not having these resources are facing a foreign exchange crisis, mainly due to the import of crude petroleum oil. Hence it is necessary to look for alternative fuels, which can be produced from materials available within the country. Although vegetative oils can be fuel for diesel engines, but their high viscosities, low volatilities and poor cold flow properties have led to the investigation of its various derivatives. Among the different possible sources, fatty acid methyl esters, known as Biodiesel fuel derived from triglycerides (vegetable oil and animal fates) by transesterification with methanol, present the promising alternative substitute to diesel fuels and have received the most attention now a day. The main advantages of using Biodiesel are its renewability, better quality exhaust gas emission, its biodegradability and the organic carbon present in it is photosynthetic in origin. It does not contribute to a rise in the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and consequently to the green house effect. This paper reviews the source of production and characterization of vegetable oils and their methyl ester as the substitute of the petroleum fuel and future possibilities of Biodiesel production.

Non-edible vegetable oils: A critical evaluation of oil extraction, fatty acid compositions, biodiesel production, characteristics, engine performance and emissions production

Abstract: World energy demand is expected to increase due to the expanding urbanization, better living standards and increasing population. At a time when society is becoming increasingly aware of the declining reserves of fossil fuels beside the environmental concerns, it has become apparent that biodiesel is destined to make a substantial contribution to the future energy demands of the domestic and industrial economies. There are different potential feedstocks for biodiesel production. Non-edible vegetable oils which are known as the second generation feedstocks can be considered as promising substitutions for traditional edible food crops for the production of biodiesel. The use of non-edible plant oils is very significant because of the tremendous demand for edible oils as food source. Moreover, edible oils’ feedstock costs are far expensive to be used as fuel. Therefore, production of biodiesel from non-edible oils is an effective way to overcome all the associated problems with edible oils. However, the potential of converting non-edible oil into biodiesel must be well examined. This is because physical and chemical properties of biodiesel produced from any feedstock must comply with the limits of ASTM and DIN EN specifications for biodiesel fuels. This paper introduces non-edible vegetable oils to be used as biodiesel feedstocks. Several aspects related to these feedstocks have been reviewed from various recent publications. These aspects include overview of non-edible oil resources, advantages of non-edible oils, problems in exploitation of non-edible oils, fatty acid composition profiles (FAC) of various non-edible oils, oil extraction techniques, technologies of biodiesel production from non-edible oils, biodiesel standards and characterization, properties and characteristic of non-edible biodiesel and engine performance and emission production. As a conclusion, it has been found that there is a huge chance to produce biodiesel from non-edible oil sources and therefore it can boost the future production of biodiesel.