Search Results (164)

Comprehensive characterization of the mango peel volatilome is essential to revealing its aromatic potential and enabling its revalorization as a natural flavoring. The volatile profile of Mangifera indica L. var. Osteen peels at three ripening stages (green, ripe, overripe) was analyzed before and after thermal drying (45 °C, 18 h): an unavoidable stabilization step for valorization applications. HS–SPME/GC–MS enabled the identification of 76 volatile compounds across different key aroma-contributing families: monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, esters, furanics and norisoprenoids. The ripening stage significantly influenced the qualitative and quantitative volatilome in fresh samples but drying heavily reduced those differences. Multivariate analyses confirmed that the drying process is the dominant factor shaping the stabilized peels’ volatilome. These findings underscore the industrial relevance of this side-stream: regardless of ripening stage, mango peels can be uniformly stabilized to be upcycled into aroma-rich ingredients. It simplifies raw material sourcing and supports food waste revalorization strategies in flavor and fragrance developments. Full article

The growing demand for sustainable protein sources has intensified the need for efficient valorisation of legume by-products. This study investigated the application of moderate intensity pulsed electric fields (MIPEF; 5 kV/cm, 4 μs, 500 pulses) as a green technology for assisting the co-extraction of proteins, pigments, and polyphenols from industrial substandard peas (Pisum sativum L.). Aqueous pea dispersions (20 g/100 g) were subjected to alkalinization (pH 9–12), and MIPEF applied either before or after the pH adjustment. The highest protein recovery was achieved when MIPEF was applied after alkalinization at pH 9.0, due to the increased conductivity and energy input enhancing electroporation-driven protein release. Although higher pH levels increased energy delivery, they did not significantly improve protein extraction. Conversely, MIPEF application decreased total polyphenol and pigment concentrations in the extract, likely due to aggregation phenomena. Overall, these preliminary results indicate that combining mild alkalinization with MIPEF might represent a promising and energy-efficient approach for protein recovery from legume side-streams. Further optimization is required to improve protein recovery while preserving the stability of co-extracted bioactive compounds. Full article

Current food systems are highly complex, with interdependencies across regions, resources, and actors, and conventional food production is a major contributor to climate change. Transitioning to sustainable protein sources is therefore critical to meet the nutritional needs of a growing global population while reducing environmental pressures. Filamentous fungi present a promising solution by converting agro-industrial side streams into mycoproteins—nutrient-dense, sustainable proteins with a carbon footprint more than ten times lower than beef. This review evaluates the potential of mycoproteins derived from fungi cultivated on low-cost substrates, focusing on their role in advancing sustainable food systems. Evidence indicates that mycoproteins are rich in protein (13.6–71% dw), complete amino acids, fiber (4.8–25% dw), essential minerals, polyphenols, and vitamins while maintaining low fat and moderate carbohydrate content. Fermentation efficiency and product quality depend on substrate type, nutrient availability, and fungal strain, with advances in bioreactor design and AI-driven optimization enhancing scalability and traceability. Supported by emerging regulatory frameworks, mycoproteins can reduce reliance on animal-derived proteins, valorize agricultural by-products, and contribute to climate-resilient, nutritionally rich diets. Integration into innovative food products offers opportunities to meet consumer preferences while promoting environmentally sustainable, socially equitable, and economically viable food systems within planetary boundaries. Full article

Soil contamination by petroleum hydrocarbons represents a significant environmental challenge, especially in industrial and urban areas. This study evaluates the use of three industrial liquid by-products—sludge dewatering sidestream (SD), leftover yeast (LY), and secondary clarifier effluent (SC)—as biostimulant agents for the bioremediation of soils contaminated with gasoline and diesel mixtures. The novelty lies in applying these waste streams within a circular economy framework, with the added advantage that they can be injected directly into the subsurface. Microcosm tests were conducted over 20 weeks, analyzing the degradation of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) and their aliphatic and aromatic fractions using gas chromatography. The results show that all by-products improved biodegradation compared to natural attenuation. LY was the most effective, achieving 73.2% TPH removal, followed by SD (70.6%) and SC (65.4%). The greatest degradation was observed in short-chain hydrocarbons (C6–C16), while compounds with higher molecular weight (C21–C35) were more recalcitrant. In addition, aliphatic hydrocarbons showed greater degradability than aromatics in heavy fractions. Kinetic analysis revealed that the second-order model best fitted the experimental data, with higher correlation coefficients (R²) and more representative half-lives. Catalase enzyme activity also increased in soils treated with LY and SD, indicating higher microbial activity. Full article

Special steel manufacturing involves both discrete processing events and continuous physical flows, forming a representative discrete–continuous hybrid production system. However, due to the visually homogeneous surfaces of steel products, the highly dynamic production environment, and frequent disturbances or anomalies, traditional single-source tracking approaches struggle to maintain accurate and consistent material identification. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a multi-source fusion-based material tracking method tailored for discrete–continuous hybrid scenarios. First, a state–event system (SES) is constructed based on process rules, enabling interpretable reasoning of material states through event streams and logical constraints. Second, on the visual perception side, a YOLOv8-SE detection network embedded with the squeeze-and-excitation (SE) channel attention mechanism is designed, while the DeepSORT tracking framework is improved to enhance weak feature extraction and dynamic matching for visually similar targets. Finally, to handle information conflicts and cooperation in multi-source fusion, an improved Dempster–Shafer (D-S) evidence fusion strategy is developed, integrating customized anomaly handling and fault-tolerance mechanisms to boost decision reliability in conflict-prone regions. Experiments conducted on real special steel production lines demonstrate that the proposed method significantly improves detection accuracy, ID consistency, and trajectory integrity under complex operating conditions, while enhancing robustness against modal conflicts and abnormal scenarios. This work provides an interpretable and engineering-feasible solution for end-to-end material tracking in hybrid manufacturing systems, offering theoretical and methodological insights for the practical deployment of multi-source collaborative perception in industrial environments. Full article

Wireless connectivity plays a pivotal role in enabling real-time telemetry, sensor feedback, and autonomous navigation within Industry 4.0 environments. This paper presents a ROS 2-based mobile robotic platform designed to perform real-time network diagnostics across both private 5G and Wi-Fi technologies in a live smart manufacturing testbed. The system integrates high-frequency telemetry acquisition with spatial localization, multi-protocol connection analysis, and detailed performance monitoring. Metrics such as latency, packet loss, bandwidth, and IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) data stream health are continuously logged and analysed. Telemetry is captured during motion and synchronously stored in an InfluxDB time-series database, enabling live visualization through Grafana dashboards. A key feature of the platform is its dual-path transmission architecture, which provides communication redundancy and allows side-by-side evaluation of network behaviour under identical physical conditions. Experimental trials demonstrate the platform’s ability to detect roaming events, characterize packet loss, and reveal latency differences between Wi-Fi and 5G networks. Results show that Wi-Fi suffered from roaming-induced instability and packet loss, whereas 5G maintained stable and uninterrupted connectivity throughout the test area. This work introduces a modular, extensible framework for mobile network evaluation in industrial settings and provides practical insights for infrastructure tuning, protocol selection, and wireless fault detection. Full article

The global challenge of food insecurity requires innovative approaches for sustainable food production and waste valorization. This study investigates the valorization of oat hulls, an abundant lignocellulosic by-product from oat manufacturing, by solid-state fermentation using edible filamentous fungi. Oat hulls sourced from oatmeal industrial side-streams were used as the sole substrate in co-cultures of Neurospora intermedia and Rhizopus oryzae. The fermentation process was optimized and upscaled, with fungal growth monitored via CO₂ efflux and modeled to assess substrate utilization. Comprehensive analyses revealed a significant increase in protein concentration (p < 0.05) in the fermented oat hulls compared to the non-fermented controls. The resulting product was successfully incorporated into granola bars, which underwent sensory evaluation and received positive feedback, demonstrating its potential as a value-added food ingredient. These findings highlight the feasibility of using edible fungi to upcycle cereal processing by-products into nutritionally enhanced alternative protein sources, supporting both food system sustainability and circular bioeconomy objectives. Full article

The use of lactose-utilizing microalgae offers a sustainable and cost-effective approach for the bioconversion of dairy industry side-streams and the reduction in microalgae production costs. This work aims to improve the biomass productivity of the lactose-utilizing microalgal strain Graesiella emersonii MSCL 1718 in concentrated cheese whey permeate. It was demonstrated that the mixotrophic growth of the axenic G. emersonii culture resulted in a significantly higher biomass productivity in 20% permeate medium compared to the heterotrophic cultivation. Furthermore, supplementation of the permeate medium with iron, zinc, cobalt, and molybdenum resulted in 12.8%, 12.9%, 9.3%, and 28.9% significant increases (p < 0.05) in biomass synthesis, respectively, compared to the control permeate group. In the subsequent experiment, G. emersonii cultivated in molybdenum-supplemented permeate resulted in 0.34 ± 0.02 g/(L·d) biomass productivity and twofold higher lipid content (30.21 ± 1.29%) compared to the photoautotrophic control in defined synthetic medium. Analysis of the fatty acid composition revealed a twofold increase in saturated fatty acids, reaching 62.16% under mixotrophic cultivation in permeate, compared with the photoautotrophic control. Overall, concentrated cheese permeate proved to be a suitable medium for G. emersonii biomass production, supporting both enhanced growth and increased lipid accumulation. Full article

The new type of gold cone filter cartridge has dual functions of increasing filter area and enhancing pulsed-jet cleaning, but the issue of patchy cleaning remains to be addressed. This study further enhances the pulsed-jet cleaning performance of cone filter cartridges by employing a porous diffusion nozzle. The temporal and spatial distributions of pulse jet velocity and pressure under the condition of porous nozzles were investigated through numerical modeling. The variation law of pressure on the side wall of the filter cartridge was analyzed. The influence of jet distance of porous nozzles on pulsed-jet pressure and pulsed-jet uniformity was experimentally investigated. Dust filtration and cleaning experiments were conducted, and the filtration pressure drop, dust emission concentration, and comprehensive filtration performance were compared. It was found that the airflow jetted by the porous diffusion nozzle is more divergent than that of the common round nozzle. This results in a larger entrainment of the jet stream, a milder collision of the jet stream with the cartridge cone, and a slower overall velocity reduction. More airflow is generated into the filter cartridge and accumulated; the accumulated static pressure covers a larger range of the upper section of the filter cartridge, with a longer duration of static pressure. In the online dust filtration and cleaning experiment, compared with the condition of the common round nozzle, the porous nozzle can reduce the residual pressure drop by 27.0%, increase the filtration cleaning interval by a factor of 3.80, reduce the average dust emission concentration by 45.2%, and increase the comprehensive performance index Q_F by 5.2%. The research conclusions can provide references for the design and optimization of industrial filter cartridge dust collectors. Full article

The production of microbial lipids through single-cell oil (SCO) technologies has gained increasing attention as a sustainable alternative source of lipids for industrial applications. This development is driven by the limitations of plant-based oils, particularly their competition with food production and demand for arable land. Cutaneotrichosporon oleaginosus has been recognized as one of the most promising oleaginous microorganisms for efficient SCO production. To improve sustainability and economic viability, it is vital to understand the underlying metabolic mechanism of SCO production as well as needs and limitations in bioprocess engineering for the efficient utilization of carbon sources derived from diverse agricultural and industrial side streams. This review focuses on recent studies exploring the potential of SCO production through C. oleaginosus in a bioprocess context through the application of low-cost agro-industrial by-products as alternative carbon sources aiming to supply lipid raw materials for various industrial applications. C. oleaginosus can grow on different agro-industrial waste-derived substrates, including lignocellulosic biomass hydrolysates, biodiesel production process side streams, chitin-based by-products, cheese whey permeates, fungal biomass hydrolysates and algal biomass hydrolysates. These substrates contain various carbon sources, such as glucose, galactose, mannose, xylose, lactose, N-acetyl-glucosamine and glycerol, facilitating efficient SCO production. Additionally, the specific composition of SCO sourced from C. oleaginosus, including the presence of functional compounds like squalene and prevalent long-chain unsaturated fatty acids in its fatty acid profile, make it an ideal option to be used as a raw material in cosmetics, biofuel and food products. This comprehensive overview aims to shed light on the potential of C. oleaginosus in leveraging carbon source alternatives for sustainable SCO production for multifaceted, industrial applications of SCO. Full article

Global seafood production and consumption have increased in recent years, leading to a significant rise in side streams. Process waters are often disposed as wastewater, causing difficulties for industries in meeting the discharge standards. This is particularly relevant to the mussel processing industry, where one-third of the raw material ends up as high-organic content effluent. This study aims to optimize a nanofiltration–diafiltration (NF–DF) strategy to recover valuable savory compounds from mussel cooking water, to reduce the effluent organic pollution, and to evaluate its environmental sustainability using Life Cycle Assessment. Pilot trials lead to a configuration, combining a volumetric concentration factor of 10 in NF and 20 in DF, which achieved enhanced protein concentration (1.5-fold), amino acid concentration (5.2-fold), and COD removal (98.2%). The environmental assessment highlighted electricity consumption during NF and DF as the primary environmental hotspot, resulting in a carbon footprint of 0.12 kg CO₂ eq. kg⁻¹ of savory compounds and water use of 0.65 m³ deprived kg⁻¹. Prospective scenarios projected that ongoing energy system transitions could significantly reduce climate change and acidification impacts by over 75% by 2050. The proposed NF–DF strategy enhances resource efficiency and sustainability in seafood processing by recovering high-value compounds and facilitating water reuse. Full article

This study presents a comprehensive design, optimization, and intensification approach for enhancing the energy efficiency of electric grade isopropyl alcohol (IPA) production, a typical energy-intensive chemical process. The process entails preconcentration and dehydration steps, with the intensity of separation formulated from a multicomponent feed that consists of IPA and water, along with other impurities. Modeling and energy optimization were performed for a conventional distillation train as a base case by using the rigorous process simulator Aspen Plus V12.1. To improve energy efficiency, various options for intensifying distillation were examined. The side-stream preconcentration column was subsequently replaced by a dividing wall column (DWC) with two side streams, i.e., a Kaibel column, reducing the total energy consumption of corresponding distillation columns by 9.1% compared to the base case. Further strengthening was achieved by combining two columns in the preconcentration process into a single Kaibel column, resulting in a 22.8% reduction in reboiler duty compared to the base case. Optimization using the response surface methodology identified key operating parameters, such as side-draw positions and stage design, which significantly influence both energy efficiency and separation quality. The intensified Kaibel setup offers significant energy efficiencies and simplified column design, suggesting enormous potential for process intensification in energy-intensive distillation processes at the industrial level, including the IPA purification process. Full article

With the advent of Industry 4.0, the manufacturing industry is facing unprecedented data challenges. Sensors, PLCs, and various types of automation equipment in smart factories continue to generate massive amounts of heterogeneous data, but existing systems generally have bottlenecks in data collection standardization, real-time processing capabilities, and system scalability, which make it difficult to meet the needs of efficient collaboration and dynamic decision making. This study proposes a multi-level industrial data processing framework based on edge computing that aims to improve the response speed and processing ability of manufacturing sites to data and to realize real-time decision making and lean management of intelligent manufacturing. At the edge layer, the OPC UA (OPC Unified Architecture) protocol is used to realize the standardized collection of heterogeneous equipment data, and a lightweight edge-computing algorithm is designed to complete the analysis and processing of data so as to realize a visualization of the manufacturing process and the inventory in a production workshop. In the storage layer, Apache Kafka is used to implement efficient data stream processing and improve the throughput and scalability of the system. The test results show that compared with the traditional workshop, the framework has excellent performance in improving the system throughput capacity and real-time response speed, can effectively support production process judgment and status analysis on the edge side, and can realize the real-time monitoring and management of the entire manufacturing workshop. This research provides a practical solution for the industrial data management system, not only helping enterprises improve the transparency level of manufacturing sites and the efficiency of resource scheduling but also providing a practical basis for further research on industrial data processing under the “edge-cloud collaboration” architecture in the academic community. Full article

As the global demand for sustainable protein sources grows, valorizing side streams in plant protein processing has become crucial. This study revisits the conventional alkaline–isoelectric extraction of faba bean protein isolates, introducing an enhanced mass balance-driven approach to recover underutilized protein fractions from typically discarded side streams. Through strategic pH manipulation and centrifugation, four distinct protein fractions were recovered with purities ranging from 34.6% to 89.6%, collectively recapturing a significant portion of the 16% protein loss in standard processing. SDS-PAGE and FTIR analyses confirmed the structural diversity among the recovered fractions, with albumin-rich and globulin-rich profiles exhibiting unique spectral and electrophoretic signatures. Functionally, fractions B and D exhibited superior water- and oil-holding capacities, indicating their potential utility in food formulations requiring enhanced moisture and lipid retention. In contrast, fraction C, characterized by low water-holding capacity and high solubility, may be better suited to applications prioritizing emulsification performance, such as in dairy or meat analogs. This study not only highlights the feasibility of reclaiming high-quality protein from industrial byproducts but also underscores the potential of these recovered proteins in diverse food and non-food sectors, including pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. These findings contribute to circular economy strategies by transforming waste into value-added ingredients with functional and commercial significance. Full article

This research investigates the strategic decision related to original content provision and business model selection within the rapidly evolving online video industry. We develop a two-sided market model involving a video platform, users, and advertisers to analyze how the platform balances subscription and advertising revenue while offering original content. This study finds that the amount of original content provided directly influences market equilibrium, affecting the platform’s choice between a purely subscription-based model or a mixed model. The cost of original content production plays a critical role in this decision-making process. High production costs may lead the platform to favor a mixed model, offering less original content to generate both subscription and ad revenue. Lower costs, however, encourage a subscription model with more original content to boost subscribing revenue. Additionally, factors such as network externalities between users and advertisers also impact the business model choice. Importantly, the model shows that allowing free users limited access to original content can expand both subscriber and advertiser engagement, enabling platforms to enhance dual revenue streams without having to sacrifice one for the other. Full article