Tribocharging Mechanism and its Application in Bioprocess Separation and On-line Process Monitoring

在全球挑战的背景下，有许多驱动因素，其中最重要的是日益增加的有关粮食安全和营养不良的世界性问题。在这些挑战之上是气候变化的潜在影响，气候变化可能对农业产生负面影响，影响农作物、畜牧业生产和渔业。世界人口的快速增长以及肉类和乳制品生产的低效导致对植物蛋白、高蛋白食品以及旨在保留其营养价值的更好加工方法的需求不断增加。植物蛋白是一种环保的蛋白质来源，与价格更高的肉类和乳制品蛋白相比，它具有经济优势。植物蛋白质相对平衡的氨基酸组成使它们成为人类营养的潜在来源。植物蛋白被添加到广泛的食品和饮料产品中，以提高它们的营养价值和功能特性，如起泡能力和稳定性、乳化活性和胶凝能力。淀粉在食品中用作增稠剂和胶凝剂，也是非食品产品的添加剂，如可生物降解的洗涤剂、化妆品和保健品、生物医用聚合物和纳米复合材料，主要是由于其生物相容性和生物降解性。与合成纤维相比，植物纤维具有密度低、强度高、弹性模量大、环保等优点，在纤维增强聚合物复合材料中的应用也引起了人们的极大关注。将蛋白质作物分离成其主要成分(蛋白质、淀粉和纤维)仍然依赖于传统技术，如在碱性或酸性条件下进行水提，然后进行等电沉淀、中和和干燥。这样的加工条件可能会对植物大分子的天然状态产生负面影响，降低成分的质量和功能。此外，这些水提取方法会产生大量乳清状废水，含有相对较高的蛋白质物质，这可能会导致水质问题。这项研究的总体目标是开发可替代的分离方法，以保持植物大分子的天然状态，同时又是环境清洁和经济可行的。拟议研究的重点是将摩擦带电原理应用于分离的蛋白质作物、能源作物和以农业为基础的资源，使其成为其组成部分。

There are numerous drivers in the context of global challenges paramount of which is increasing world issues concerning food security and malnutrition. Layered on these challenges is the potential impact of climate change which may have a negative impact on agriculture affecting crops, livestock production, and fisheries. Rapid world population growth and the inefficiency of meat and dairy production have led to the increasing demand for plant protein, high protein food products, and better processing methods aimed at retaining their nutritional value. Plant protein is an environmentally conservative protein source that has economic advantages over more expensive meat and dairy based proteins. The relatively well-balanced amino acid profile of plant proteins makes them attractive potential sources for human nutrition. Plant protein is added to a broad range of food and beverage products to enhance their nutritional value and functional properties such as foaming capacity and stability, emulsifying activity, and gelling ability. Starch is used as a thickening and gelling agent in food products and is an additive to non-food products, such as biodegradable detergents, cosmetic and healthcare products, biomedical polymers and nanocomposites mostly due to its biocompatibility and biodegradability. Plant-derived or natural fibers have also attracted a great deal of attention particularly its application in fiber reinforced polymer composites due to their low density and high strength, elastic modulus, and environmental advantages compared to synthetic fibers. Fractionation of protein crops into their major components (protein, starch, and fiber), still relies on conventional technologies, such as aqueous extraction under alkaline or acidic conditions, followed by isoelectric precipitation, neutralization, and drying. Such processing conditions can negatively affect the native state of plant macromolecules, reducing the quality and functionality of the ingredients. Furthermore, these aqueous extraction methods generate large volumes of whey-like effluents with relatively high quantities of proteinaceous material, which can result in water quality issues. The overall objective of this research is to develop alternative separation methods that preserve the native state of plant macromolecules, and at the same time are environmentally clean and economically feasible. The focus of the proposed research is to apply the principles of triboelectrification to fractionate protein crops, energy crops, and agro-based resources into their constituent fractions.