AppliedChem, Volume 5, Issue 3 (September 2025) – 3 articles

As demand for plant-based beverages grows, analytical tools are needed to classify and understand their structural and compositional diversity. This study applied a multi-analytical approach to characterize 41 commercial almond-, oat-, rice- and soy-based beverages, evaluating attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, protein secondary structure proportions, colorimetry, and microscopic image texture analysis. A total of 26 variables, derived from ATR-FTIR and protein secondary structure assessment, were employed in multivariate models, using partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and orthogonal PLS-DA (OPLS-DA) to evaluate classification performance. The results indicated clear group separation, with soy and rice beverages forming distinct clusters while almond and oat samples showing partial overlap. Variable importance in projection (VIP) scores revealed that β-turn and α-helix protein structures, along with carbohydrate-associated spectral bands, were the key features for beverages’ classification. Textural features derived from microscopy images correlated with sugar and carbohydrate content and color parameters were also employed to describe beverages’ differences related to sugar content and visual appearance in terms of homogeneity. These findings demonstrate that combining ATR-FTIR spectral data with protein secondary structure data enables the effective classification of plant-based beverages, while microscopic image textural and color parameters offer additional extended product characterization. Full article

In this study, chromium ferrite (FeCr; CrFe₂O₄) nanoparticles supported on activated carbon (AC), obtained from agricultural olive mill solid waste, were synthesized via a simple hydrothermal process. The structural, morphological, optical, and chemical properties of the FeCr/AC composite were characterized using XRD, SEM, EDX, DRS, BET, and FTIR techniques. The FeCr/AC composite was applied as a heterogeneous photo-Fenton catalyst for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye in an aqueous solution under 25 W visible-light LED irradiation. Critical operational factors, such as FeCr/AC dosage, pH, MB concentration, and H₂O₂ levels, were optimized. Under optimal conditions, 97.56% of MB was removed within 120 min of visible-light exposure, following pseudo-first-order kinetics. The composite also exhibited high efficiency in degrading methyl orange dye (95%) and tetracycline antibiotic (88%) within 180 min, with corresponding first-order rate constants of 0.0225 min⁻¹ and 0.0115 min⁻¹, respectively. This study highlights the potential of FeCr/AC for treating water contaminated with dyes and pharmaceuticals, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for water purification. Full article

The aim of this work was to improve the technology for obtaining coating based on plasticized polylactide from its aqueous suspensions. For this purpose, a film formation process with additional heating was developed, and the influence of plasticizers on the film-formation temperature was investigated. It is shown that using only mechanical emulsification, it is possible to obtain a material with an average particle size of 2.4 microns, which is suitable for further research and modification for film materials. The introduction of epoxidized fatty acids (oleic and linolic) was found to reduce the film-formation temperature by 20–30 °C compared to the unplasticized polymer, which puts them on par with the classical plasticizer, polyethylene glycol, reducing the film-formation temperature by 36% at the same concentration. Full article