Browsing by Author "Jin, Qing"

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    Acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation of soluble and hydrolyzed sugars in apple pomace by Clostridium beijerinckii P260
    Jin, Qing; Qureshi, Nasib; Wang, Hengjian; Huang, Haibo (2019-05-15)
    The decreasing supply of fossil fuels and increasing environmental concern of food waste disposal have raised interests in food waste conversation to biofuels such as butanol. Apple pomace, a food processing waste rich in carbohydrates, is a good feedstock for butanol production. The goal of this study is to present and evaluate a process to thoroughly convert apple pomace water soluble sugars (WSS) and hydrolyzed sugars from structural carbohydrates to acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) by fermentation. WSS was extracted from apple pomace by hot water. The solid residue was pretreated with acid or alkali followed by enzymatic hydrolysis to obtain acid hydrolyzed sugars (ACHS) or alkali hydrolyzed sugars (ALHS). Finally, WSS, ACHS, ALHS, WSS + ACHS, and WSS + ALHS were used as substrates to produce ABE by Clostridium beijerinckii P260, respectively. Acid and alkali pretreated apple pomace showed significantly (p < 0.05) higher glucose yield after cellulase hydrolysis compared with that of unpretreated apple pomace. Addition of pectinase increased hydrolyzed glucose yield by 27.9%, 26.9%, and 33.0% for acid pretreated sample, alkali pretreated sample, and unpretreated sample, respectively. Fermentation results revealed that inhibitors generated during pretreatment could negatively affect the ABE fermentation rate and titers; however, this negative effect could be alleviated by mixing the hydrolyzed sugars with water soluble sugars. A total of 202.8, 42.1, 41.4, 260.1, and 262.2 g of ABE was produced from each kg of dry apple pomace using WSS, ACHS, ALHS, WSS + ACHS, and WSS + ALHS as the substrates, respectively, based on the mass balance.
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    Chemical Compositions of Edamame Genotypes Grown in Different Locations in the US
    Yu, Dajun; Lin, Tiantian; Sutton, Kemper L.; Lord, Nick; Carneiro, Renata C. V.; Jin, Qing; Zhang, Bo; Kuhar, Thomas P.; Rideout, Steven L.; Ross, W. Jeremy; Duncan, Susan E.; Yin, Yun; Wang, Hengjian; Huang, Haibo (2021-02-12)
    The consumption of edamame [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] in the US has rapidly increased due to its nutritional value and potential health benefits. In this study, 10 edamame genotypes were planted in duplicates in three different locations in the US-Whitethorne, Virginia (VA), Little Rock, Arkansas (AR), and Painter, VA. Edamame samples were harvested at the R6 stage of the bean development when beans filled 80-90% of the pod cavity. Afterward, comprehensive chemical composition analysis, including sugars, alanine, protein, oil, neutral detergent fiber (NDF), starch, ash, and moisture contents, were conducted on powdered samples using standard methods and the total sweetness was calculated based on the measured sugars and alanine contents. Significant effects of the location were observed on all chemical constituents of edamame (p < 0.05). The average performance of the genotypes was higher in Whitethorne for the contents of free sucrose (59.29 mg/g), fructose (11.42 mg/g), glucose (5.38 mg/g), raffinose (5.32 mg/g), stachyose (2.34 mg/g), total sweetness (78.63 mg/g), and starch (15.14%) when compared to Little Rock and Painter. The highest soluble alanine (2.67 mg/g), NDF (9.00%), ash (5.60%), and moisture (70.36%) contents were found on edamame planted in Little Rock while edamame planted in Painter had the highest crude protein (43.11%) and oil (20.33%) contents. Significant effects of genotype were observed on most of the chemical constituents (p < 0.05) except NDF and raffinose. Among the 10 genotypes, R13-5029 consistently had high sucrose content and total sweetness across the three locations, meanwhile it had relatively high protein and fiber contents. Overall, the results indicate that to breed better edamame genotypes in the US, both genotype and planting location should be taken into considerations.
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    Compositional Characterization of Different Industrial White and Red Grape Pomaces in Virginia and the Potential Valorization of the Major Components
    Jin, Qing; O’Hair, Joshua; Stewart, Amanda C.; O'Keefe, Sean F.; Neilson, Andrew P.; Kim, Young Teck; McGuire, Megan N.; Lee, Andrew H.; Wilder, Geoffrey; Huang, Haibo (MDPI, 2019-12-11)
    To better evaluate potential uses for grape pomace (GP) waste, a comprehensive chemical composition analysis of GP in Virginia was conducted. Eight commercial white and red pomace samples (cv. Viognier, Vidal Blanc, Niagara, Petit Manseng, Petit Verdot, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Chambourcin) obtained from different wineries in Virginia, USA were used. For extractives, GPs contained 2.89%–4.66% titratable acids, 4.32%–6.60% ash, 4.62%–12.5% lipids with linoleic acid being the predominant (59.0%–70.9%) fatty acid, 10.4–64.8 g total phenolic content (gallic acid equivalents)/kg GP, 2.09–53.3 g glucose/kg GP, 3.79–52.9 g fructose/kg GP, and trace sucrose. As for non-extractives, GPs contained 25.2%–44.5% lignin, 8.04%–12.7% glucan, 4.42%–7.05% xylan, and trace amounts of galactan, arabinan, and mannan (less than 3% in total). Potential usages of these components were further examined to provide information on better valorization of GP. Considering the valuable extractives (e.g., polyphenols and oil) and non-extractives (e.g., lignin), designing a biorefinery process aiming at fully recover and/or utilize these components is of future significance.
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    Conversion of Food Waste into 2,3-Butanediol via Thermophilic Fermentation: Effects of Carbohydrate Content and Nutrient Supplementation
    Yu, Dajun; O’Hair, Joshua; Poe, Nicholas; Jin, Qing; Pinton, Sophia; He, Yanhong; Huang, Haibo (MDPI, 2022-01-10)
    Fermentation of food waste into 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BDO), a high-value chemical, is environmentally sustainable and an inexpensive method to recycle waste. Compared to traditional mesophilic fermentation, thermophilic fermentation can inhibit the growth of contaminant bacteria, thereby improving the success of food waste fermentation. However, the effects of sugar and nutrient concentrations in thermophilic food waste fermentations are currently unclear. Here, we investigated the effects of sugar and nutrients (yeast extract (YE) and peptone) concentrations on 2,3-BDO production from fermenting glucose and food waste media using the newly isolated thermophilic Bacillus licheniformis YNP5-TSU. When glucose media was used, fermentation was greatly affected by sugar and nutrient concentrations: excessive glucose (>70 g/L) slowed down the fermentation and low nutrients (2 g/L YE and 1 g/L peptone) caused fermentation failure. However, when food waste media were used with low nutrient addition, the bacteria consumed all 57.8 g/L sugars within 24 h and produced 24.2 g/L 2,3-BDO, equivalent to a fermentation yield of 0.42 g/g. An increase in initial sugar content (72.9 g/L) led to a higher 2,3-BDO titer of 36.7 g/L with a nearly theoretical yield of 0.47 g/g. These findings may provide fundamental knowledge for designing cost-effective food waste fermentation to produce 2,3-BDO.
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    Food Waste from Campus Dining Hall as a Potential Feedstock for 2,3-Butanediol Production via Non-Sterilized Fermentation
    Caldwell, Alicia; Su, Xueqian; Jin, Qing; Hemphill, Phyllicia; Jaha, Doaa; Nard, Sonecia; Tiriveedhi, Venkataswarup; Huang, Haibo; OHair, Joshua (MDPI, 2024-01-31)
    Food waste is a major issue that is increasingly affecting our environment. More than one-third of food is wasted, resulting in over $400 billion in losses to the U.S. economy. While composting and other small recycling practices are encouraged from person-to-person, it is not enough to balance the net loss of 80 million tons per year. Currently, one of the most promising routes for reducing food waste is through microbial fermentation, which can convert the waste into valuable bioproducts. Among the compounds produced from fermentation, 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BDO) has gained interest recently due to its molecular structure as a building block for many other derivatives used in perfumes, synthetic rubber, fumigants, antifreeze agents, fuel additives, and pharmaceuticals. Waste feedstocks, such as food waste, are a potential source of renewable energy due to their lack of cost and availability. Food waste also possesses microbial requirements for growth such as carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and more. However, food waste is highly inconsistent and the variability in composition may hinder its ability to be a stable source for bioproducts such as 2,3-BDO. This current study focuses specifically on post-consumer food waste and how 2,3-BDO can be produced through a non-model organism, Bacillus licheniformis YNP5-TSU during non-sterile fermentation. From the dining hall at Tennessee State University, 13 food waste samples were collected over a 6-month period and the compositional analysis was performed. On average, these samples consisted of fat (19.7%), protein (18.7%), ash (4.8%), fiber (3.4%), starch (27.1%), and soluble sugars (20.9%) on a dry basis with an average moisture content of 34.7%. Food waste samples were also assessed for their potential production of 2,3-BDO during non-sterile thermophilic fermentation, resulting in a max titer of 12.12 g/L and a 33% g/g yield of 2,3-BDO/carbohydrates. These findings are promising and can lead to the better understanding of food waste as a defined feedstock for 2,3-BDO and other fermentation end-products.
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    Integrated Process Design and Techno-Economic Analysis of A Grape Pomace Biorefinery
    Jin, Qing (Virginia Tech, 2020-09-09)
    Grape pomace (GP) is one of the most abundant and underutilized fruit-derived wastes. GP is generated during winemaking, occupying over 60% of the total solid winery wastes. GP may cause serious environmental problems if it is not properly handled. On the other hand, it is rich in valuable compounds that are worthy of recovery. Although research has been working on GP upgrading, the utilizations are limited to producing a single product (e.g., grape seeds oil or polyphenol powders), which leads to large volumes of secondary wastes left. Therefore, the goal of this study is to develop an integrated process for the comprehensive utilization of GP by the production of multiple value-added products and evaluate its economic feasibility at a commercial scale. First, the chemical composition of different industrial GPs was analyzed to lay the foundation for the process design. Based on the analyzed chemical composition, an integrated process was developed to produce grape oil, polyphenols, and biofuels from GP. In this process, GP was extracted by hexane to produce oil, followed by aqueous ethanol solution extraction to obtain polyphenols. The solid residue rich in structural carbohydrates was then pretreated by alkali to partially remove lignin and enzymatically hydrolyzed to produce monomer sugars. The produced sugars were used as feedstock to produce acetone, butanol and ethanol (ABE) through anaerobic fermentation. Under the optimized conditions, the process was able to produce 71.9 g crude oil, 322.8 g crude polyphenols (equivalent to 72.6 g gallic acid), and 20.7 g ABE from 1 kg dry GP. Besides the valuable products, the process co-generated a large amount (50% of input GP biomass) of secondary waste, which is rich in lignin. Therefore, we further converted the secondary waste to biochars and evaluated their potential application in water purification by removing lead (Pb) from contaminated water. Based on the results, the produced biochar showed a high Pb adsorption ability (134 mg/g), with 66.5% of lead removal achieved within the first 30 min. Experimental and modeling results indicated that both physisorption and chemisorption mechanisms were involved in the Pb adsorption of the biochar. Finally, techno-economic analysis was conducted to evaluate the economic feasibility of the integrated processing of GP into oil, polyphenols, and biochar at an industrial scale. The results showed that compared with generating of single product or dual products, the integrated process aiming to produce multiple products had the best economic performance with the net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), and payback period of $135.0 million, 47.5%, and 1.8 years, respectively. Sensitivity analysis showed that plant capacity and polyphenol selling price had major impacts on process economics. Therefore, a suggestion for implementing this integrated process is to invest more in the polyphenol production and purification process to generate high-quality polyphenols with a high selling price and running the plant with a large capacity. Overall, we explored a novel integrated process that aims to produce multiple value-added products to increase the economic gain for the wine industry, and at the same time, potentially reduce the environmental burdens caused by GP disposal.
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    Valorization of Seafood Waste for Food Packaging Development
    Zhan, Zhijing; Feng, Yiming; Zhao, Jikai; Qiao, Mingyu; Jin, Qing (MDPI, 2024-07-03)
    Packaging plays a crucial role in protecting food by providing excellent mechanical properties as well as effectively blocking water vapor, oxygen, oil, and other contaminants. The low degradation of widely used petroleum-based plastics leads to environmental pollution and poses health risks. This has drawn interest in renewable biopolymers as sustainable alternatives. The seafood industry generates significant waste that is rich in bioactive substances like chitin, chitosan, gelatins, and alginate, which can replace synthetic polymers in food packaging. Although biopolymers offer biodegradability, biocompatibility, and non-toxicity, their films often lack mechanical and barrier properties compared with synthetic polymer films. This comprehensive review discusses the chemical structure, characteristics, and extraction methods of biopolymers derived from seafood waste and their usage in the packaging area as reinforcement or base materials to guide researchers toward successful plastics replacement and commercialization. Our review highlights recent advancements in improving the thermal durability, mechanical strength, and barrier properties of seafood waste-derived packaging, explores the mechanisms behind these improvements, and briefly mentions the antimicrobial activities and mechanisms gained from these biopolymers. In addition, the remaining challenges and future directions for using seafood waste-derived biopolymers for packaging are discussed. This review aims to guide ongoing efforts to develop seafood waste-derived biopolymer films that can ultimately replace traditional plastic packaging.