An emerging strategy to reducing food waste is converting food processing byproducts to nutritious and inexpensive food ingredients. A relevant food processing waste stream is brewers’ spent grain (BSG), the primary byproduct of beer production. BSG is a promising candidate as a food ingredient because of its high protein and...
Enzymatic browning is a consequence of a series of reactions initiated by polyphenol oxidase (PPO)-catalyzed quinone formation. Unwanted browning negatively affects food quality and lowers consumer acceptability. Thus, there is general interest in strategies to control enzymatic browning. Cyclodextrins are cyclic glucan oligosaccharides that form inclusion complexes with a number...
Hydrogen peroxide quantification is of broad interest due to the common use of hydrogen peroxide as an oxidizing agent in industrial processing and laboratory research. Hydrogen peroxide assays are also of general importance for biological studies aimed at understanding the role of in situ generated reactive oxygen species. In the...
This dissertation has focused on lignin byproducts that result from the alkali processing of wheat straw. The first study evaluated the application of “standard” lignin quantification methods for summative analyses of alkali-based processes. Mass closure during NaOH processing at 25, 50, and 75°C of wheat straw was evaluated using the...
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MichaelH. Penner
This dissertation has focused on lignin byproducts that result from the
The work described in this dissertation focused on chemistry related to the use of aqueous sodium hydroxide as a treatment in the processing of wheat straw. A major emphasis was the comprehensive evaluation of straw component partitioning due to sodium hydroxide (NaOH) processing. This was evaluated over a range of...
This thesis summarizes an investigation into the need for removing extractives
from herbaceous biomass feedstocks prior to their chemical characterization. Switchgrass
(Panicum virgatum), was used in this study as a representative herbaceous biomass
feedstock. The influence of extractives on the chemical analysis of switchgrass was done
by comparing the composition...
Lignocellulosic biomass is a potential source of fermentable sugars such as glucose. Enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose is a viable method of solubilizing the glucose from biomass, but the cellulose fraction of native lignocellulosic material is shielded from enzymatic attack by the lignin-hemicellulose matrix surrounding it. Pretreating lignocellulosic biomass with dilute...
Cellooligosaccharides are the reaction intermediates produced during the hydrolysis of cellulose to glucose. Hence, they have the same chemical structure as cellulose, just shorter chain lengths. Cellooligosaccharides up to DP eight are soluble in water. The soluble cellooligosaccharides can be used "as is" in the food industry as non-digestible oligosaccharides...
Lignocellulosic biomass represents a vast supply of fermentable carbohydrates and functional aromatic compounds. Conversion of lignocellulosics to ethanol and other useful products would be of widespread economical and environmental benefit. Better understanding of the behavior of different lignicellulosic feedstocks in fermentation protocols as well as catalytic activities involved in lignocellulosic...