Iranian Journal of Biosystems Engineering
Year:2019 | Volume:50 | Issue:1 |Papers Count:24

Many studies have been conducted to investigate the removal of various pollutants from water using nanoparticles. The results indicate that this method has a very high efficiency. In this study, polyurethane filter is modified by nano sized polypyrrole (PPy) and used to improve the quality of the waste water. The chemical polymerization by in place method was used for polymerization of PPy. The Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) was used for characterization of morphology, size and porosity of synthesized nano-polymers. The results indicate that the synthesized polymers are granular and uniformly (≈ 50 to 120 nm) synthesized on the polyurethane filter. Central Composite Design (CCD) was used to study the effect of filtration time and filter height on the improving of waste water quality. The quality of waste water after filtration was checked by spectroscopy and various devices such as BOD meters, salinity gauge and so. The results indicate that designed filter has a good performance in improving the parameters such as total dissolved solids (TDS), biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), color, salinity, hardness and pH from waste water. After data modeling, optimal conditions for improving the quality of waste water such as the number of passing waste water samples from filter and filter thickness were obtained using graphical method. The optimum thickness for the filter is 1. 3 centimeters and the most suitable filtration is 8 times.

This study was conducted to analyze and optimize the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions for sugarcane production in planted and ratoon farms using data envelopment analysis in Khuzestan Province. Information needed for this study, related to the years of 2011-2016, were interviewed by company staff and filled out questionnaire from Imam Khomeini Sugarcane Agro-Industrial Company. Based on two models of constant return to scale and variable return to scale, the average values of technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency were calculated as 0. 91, 0. 98 and 0. 93 in planted farms and 0. 95, 0. 98 and 0. 96 in ratoon farms, respectively. In optimal consumption mode, total energy savings of 14763. 1 (equivalent to 8. 52%) and 3205. 17 (equivalent to 2. 61%) MJ ha-1 was calculated planted and ratoon farms, respectively. Of the total energy stored in plant farms, the largest share storage of electricity, water for irrigation and diesel fuel belonged to 77. 03%, 7. 64% and 5. 58%, respectively. Also, electricity, water for irrigation and diesel fuel were 51. 57%, 26. 51% and 13. 2%, respectively, also of the total energy stored in the ratoon farms, with the highest percentage of storage compared to conventional consumption. The amount of total greenhouse gas emissions were 5825. 25 and 4310. 76 kgCO2eq ha-1 in planted and ratoon farms, respectively and optimal mode 5192. 13 and 4200. 75 kgCO2eq ha-1 respectively. The amount of was reduced to 633. 12 and 110. 1m kgCO2eq, in planted and ratoon farms, respectively.

Mechanical damage in grains and seeds during harvesting, trashing and transporting stages affects germination seed vigor seriously as well as ultimately affects the quality of the product. The general objective of this study was to investigate the effect of parameters of pneumatic transfer (transfer velocity, path length and mass flow rate) on quality properties of corn seeds (germination percentage, seed vigor, germination speed, mass loss and electrical conductivity). At the first time, a dilute phase pneumatic conveyor was constructed. Then, corn transfer an experiment was performing at different levels of pipe length (1, 2 and 3 m), inlet air velocity (13, 17 and 20 m/s) and mass flow rate (200, 250 and 300 kg/h). The experimental design was factorial based on completely randomized design. The results of the experiments showed that with increasing pipe length and mass flow rate, the percentage of germination decreased significantly (p≤ 0. 01). The interaction of length, velocity and mass flow rate on seed vigor was significant (p≤ 0. 01). The highest seed vigor index was obtained at a 1m length of pipe, 13 m / s velosity and mass flow rate of 300 kg / h; and the lowest seed vigor index at 3 m of length, 13 m / s vlocity and mass flow rate of 300 kg / h. The effect of pipe length on seed electrical conductivity was significant (p≤ 0. 05), and other parametrs had no significant effect on the electrical conductivity of seed.

According to technology progress and the increase in human populations since the Industrial Revolution, the amount of waste generated is increasing. With the increase in waste production, due to problems and challenges such as emissions from waste, require to sustainable management of waste has increased. One of the methods of waste management is to use it for the production of compost. In this study, the composting plant in Rasht was investigated, with a daily input of around 400 ton of MSW. Of this 400 ton of waste, 64. 1 percent is the organic material, that 48 percent (192 ton) after the processing is separated from the MSW and sent to the fermentation location, and finally 12 ton compost is produced. The amount of energy consumed at this plant, after calculating the input and output energy, was about 82. 02 GJ. Energy productivity index was calculated as 0. 15 ton/GJ. Environmental ECO-costs for the entire composting process were obtained as 4. 92×107 Rial.

Compression is one of the suitable solutions to reduce the volume of biomass materials. The cattle manure pellet production (extruder) transforms manure into pellet in the humidity range of 35 to 45 percent (based on the wet). The use of a size reduction machine is necessary for grinding cattle manure in pellet production. The objective of this study was determining specific energy consumption for grinding wet cattle manure at three levels of moisture content of cow manure (35, 40 and 45 % w. b) and three levels of thrasher unit rotational speed (150, 200 and 250 rpm) using special size reduction machine. The experiment was a factorial arranged in a Randomized Complete Design with three replications. One Kg of cattle manure was grinded in each test and the particle size of grinded cattle manure was determined. The highest specific energy consumption was 4. 62 (KJ / Kg) for thrasher unit rotational speed of 150 rpm at 45 % (w. b) moisture content. The thrasher unit rotational speed was negatively connected with specific energy consumption, such that in the highest rotational speed of thrasher unit (250 rpm), lowest specific energy consumption (1. 72 KJ/Kg) was observed. The lowest geometric mean diameter of wet cattle manure was 1. 02 for thrasher unit rotational speed of 200 rpm at 35% (w. b) moisture content.

Due to the high perishability of pomegranate arils, coating will increase the shelf-life and maintain their marketability. In present research, Persian gum in 1 % (W/V) concentration along with cinnamon oil in 0. 25, 0. 5 and 0. 75 % (V/V) concentrations were used for coating pomegranate arils. Physical, chemical and sensorial tests of arils were evaluated at seven-day intervals. Total anthocyanin content decreased from first day to third week of the storage (p<0. 05). Increasing storage time and essential oil concentration reduced acidity. Firmness of the arils increased from first day to third week (p<0. 05). Total soluble solids and total phenol of the arils did not change noticeably in all the samples (p>0. 05). Due to sensorial test, there was not any remarkable difference among the samples in respect of acceptability of taste and odour (p>0. 05). Also, the coating significantly inhibited the growth of mold on the arils. Shelf life, marketability and nutritional quality of pomegranate arils can be maintained at an appropriate and significant level, by suitable coating of pomegranate arils and selecting optimum concentration of cinnamon oil or similar substances.

In food industry, the use of quality monitoring and evaluating systems which increase the production efficiency and desirability of product is increasing. Fuzzy logic has provided an appropriate tool in the design of the decision maker systems based on human experience. In this study, a fuzzy system was designed for sensory evaluation of apple slices during drying using infrared radiation. For this purpose, the slices of apple were prepared in three thicknesses of 5 (Thin), 9 (Moderate) and 13 mm (Thick). Intermittent radiation operation was performed at three constant temperatures of 70 (Low), 75 (Moderate) and 80 ° C (High) to achieve a moisture level of 15 (Low), 20 (Moderate) and 25 % kg/kg, wb (High). Evaluating the sensory attributes including color, aroma, flavor, texture and overall acceptability was performed by ten trained panelists using linguistic and hedonic method. Similarity analysis between sensory properties in terms of importance and statistical analysis for considering the impact of process conditions on the desirability were also performed. Finally, the fuzzy model has been set. The results showed that, color and texture are of the same importance with Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) equal to 0. 981 in the sensory evaluation. Sensory qualities of apple slices were better in thin slices, low temperature and moderate humidity. Fuzzy model with mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) equal to 14. 54 %, had a good prediction about average evaluated scores.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of osmotic solutions of high fructose corn syrup and sugar in concentrations of 40 and 60%, compared to distilled water for 20 and 30 minutes assisted ultrasound on water loss, solid gain, weight loss, shrinkage, texture firmness, moisture, color indices and sensory properties of dried banana slices. The results showed that with increasing ultrasound time and concentration of osmotic solutions, especially high fructose corn syrup with 60% concentration, the amount of water loss, solid gain, weight loss, firmness and brightness increased while the amount of shrinkage and moisture content of the samples decreased. The sensory characteristics of dried bananas with osmotic solutions also had the better appearance, color, firmness and overall acceptance. Use of ultrasound pretreatment with high fructose corn syrup as a low-caloric and dietary solution is recommended for banana drying.

Canola is a source of edible oil and its cultivation in Iran and the world is growing. Only few studies have been carried out by remote sensing for canola yield estimation, . In 2017-2018, in order to predict the canola yield by Landsat satellite, OLI sensor, three farms were evaluated. The satellite images were processed in five stages: before flowering, early flowering, peak of flowering, green and dry maturing, and some of vegetation indices were extracted based on the ratio of the bands. The pixel network of each farm was determined and the Real Time Kinematic Global Positioning System (RTKGPS) was used to increase the precision of pixels location in the farms. Sampling was done inside farms pixels during harvesting time and canola yield was measured. Totally, 28 pixels from three studied farms were used to develop and validate the predictive models. Simple and multivariate linear regression models were used to assess the relationship between canola yield and vegetation indices. The results showed that, on the basis of simple linear regression models, among the growth stages, the highest coefficient of determination (R2) in each of the vegetation indices belonged to one of the two stages: the peak of flowering and green maturing. The coefficient of determination in all vegetation indices was low in the before flowering stage (less than 10 percent) and relatively medium (24-52 percent) in the early flowering and dry maturing stages. According to this model, the NDYI with 67 percent in the peak of flowering stage, and the RVI with 64 percent in the green maturing stage had the highest coefficient of determination compared to other vegetation indices. The stepwise multivariate linear regression models, with four visible and near infrared bands, resulted to the best yield predictive model in the peak of flowering stage, with 78 and 74 percent of coefficient of determination, for its implementation and validation, respectively.

Drying process is not uniform in the common rice dryers (batch type dryers). In order to decrease this problem, two types of passing hot air dryer consisted of the lateral and central patterns has been defined and method of air distribution in the rice porous media modeled by Fluent software in transient condition. In the lateral pattern, air enters through the side walls of the dryer chamber and in the central pattern, air enters through the central channel of the dryer chamber. The air temperature is 40 oc and air flow rate is 550 m3/h in all models. The results of simulation illustrate, the air flows more rapidly in the central pattern and penetrates into all parts of the dryer chamber. There is not any central passing air channel in the lateral pattern so, it caused to produce an irregular temperature field with high distortion. Models were verified in steady state condition. Results show the final temperature of model was near the measured data with 2% deviation.

In this research, peppermint and fennel essential oil (0. 5, 1. 5, and 1. 5%) was used separately and in combination in pectin film to change the functional properties of films. The results showed that the addition of peppermint and fennel essential oil to the film caused a significant decrease in solubility and moisture content of the film (p<0. 01). The effect of fennel essential oil on reducing the solubility was higher than peppermint. By increasing the concentrations of essential oil in the film, the opacity of films was increased from 0. 72 Au. nm-1 to 5. 97 Au. nm-1, but the use of the combination of essential oil in the film formed homogeneous emulsion and had less effect on opacity. The FTIR analysis showed a new interaction between essential oils and pectin. The most antioxidant activity was found in films containing 1. 5% fennel essential oil, the phenolic compounds confirmed the antioxidant activity of the essential oil, the phenolic compounds content was (385/71 mg/g Gallic acid) for fennel and peppermint (322/83 mg/g Gallic acid). Water vapor permeability was decreased 50% by adding essential oil in films. In the results of mechanical properties, the elongation percentage of pectin films increased significantly by addition the essential oil (p<0. 01), but the tensile strength and elastic modulus decreased. In terms of color changes, light absorption by phenolic compounds of essential oil decreased the yellowness index compared with the control sample, total color difference in the film containing essential oil, was higher than control films due to the presence of essential oil, the yellowness index and white index in the films containing essential oil decreased and increased, respectively.

In this article a machine vision system and an artificial neural network (ANN) for classifying the strawberry based on maturity and shape features were used. First an image processing algorithm for extracting the color and shape features was investigated and then for grading the strawberry into three classes based on shape features and three classes of maturity based on colors features were done. The sensitivity analysis indicated that shape grading had highest sensitive to area, parameter, large and minor diameters features. Also a* and S color features had better correlation coefficient than other color features with total solid soluble and therefore were selected as supreme features for grading the strawberry based on maturity. Finally, results demonstrated that the ANN was able to classify with 94. 04 and 95. 14 total accuracy rate for shape and maturity grading.

In this research, the energy consumption, environmental emissions, modeling and optimization in different stages of wheat and bread production was studied in Guilan province. Data were gathered by using the questionnaire, archiving documents of agriculture Jihad, visiting the Bread Factory and Sangak bread Bakery and interviewing the relevant experts. Also, by assessing environmental pollutants, the highest environmental burden was calculated in different indices. Results showed that the average total energy inputs and outputs of wheat production were 15651. 27 and 2760. 22 MJ/ha, respectively, and the total energy in the modern and traditional bread production chain were 263299. 17 and 468747. 289 MJ/10 ton bread, respectively. The energy ratio of wheat production was equal to 1. 76, indicating the positive energy efficiency of wheat production on the area of the study. The results of data envelopment analysis also showed, the energy ratio could be increased from 1. 76 to 2. 70 by applying better management.

In this research, the effect of forward speed at four levels (1. 8, 2. 3, 2. 9 and 3. 5 km/h), tillage depth at three levels (30, 40 and 50 cm) and wing at two levels (winged and no-winged tines) were investigated on the draft requirement, soil disturbance area and specific draft of Paraplow. The results revealed that the effect of depth and wing was more than forward speed on the studied parameters, significantly. Increasing forward speed increased draft requirement and specific draft but decreased disturbance area. Increasing depth and adding wing led to increase draft requirement, disturbance area and specific draft. Transfering winged paraplow to under the hardpan decreased specific draft, significantly. The results recommended that using lower speed, minimum depth for hardpan breakage and wing will be better. A regression model included the speed, depth and wing width was developed to predict the draft requirement.

The aim of this study was to prepare an ultra-stable emulsion for canthaxanthin with cellulose nanocrystals and investigating its physiochemical properties. Canthaxanthin used in this study was a metabolite of Dietzia natronolimnaea HS-1. Cellulosic nanocrystals (CNCs) of cotton linter were made and characterized using acid hydrolysis. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) alongside Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) represented needle-like particles with length of 212± 11 and thickness of 5± 2. The crystallinity degree of CNC for cotton linter increased from (76. 4%) to (86. 6%). FTIR (ATR) spectroscopy suggested more surface hydroxyl groups for CNCs than native cellulose and complete digestion of hemicelluloses by acid. Pickering emulsions of oil in water were prepared using an ultrasonic homogenizer. The results of the morphological tests indicated a sample with the same particle dispersion. Results indicated that generated emulsions represent promising stability in different environmental conditions for a long period of time.

Fabrication of reduced fat mayonnaise using Persian gum (PG) and sodium octenyl succinate starch (SOS) investigated. Effects of concentration of the PG (4, 3. 8 and 3. 6%), a mixture of xanthan and guar gum (XG ratio 75: 25) at (0. 0, 0. 2 and 0. 4%) and the SOS (0. 5%, 1. 0% and 1. 5) on the stability, textural properties, droplet size and optical properties of low fat-free cholesterol mayonnaise examined. Results showed that all of the low fat mayonnaise samples have similar textural properties to full fat (FF) sample. There was a significant difference in color and droplet size of low fat (LF) and FF samples. The best levels of SOS and PG to provide the most stable formulation were 1 and 3. 6%, respectively. In comparison with FF sample, LF samples were more stable and free from cholesterol and had lower calories. According to the evaluations, the results showed that this product can be used as commercial mayonnaise.

In this study, the effect of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), okra mucilage and the mixture of these two hydrocolloids as coatings (in 0. 5, 1 and 1. 5% levels) was investigated on the moisture content, oil uptake, coating ratio, frying efficiency, hardness, color indexes and sensory properties of French fries. The results showed that the French fries coated with a 1. 5% coating mixture absorbed the least amount of oil. The color indexes of the French fries slices containing CMC coatings were better than the slices containing okra mucilage and slices without any coating. Also, the coated samples had a higher moisture content due to the inhibitory effect of the hydrocolloids compared to the control sample. In terms of overall acceptance, the sample containing 1% mixture of coatings obtained a high score. The present study showed that using the mixture of CMC gum and Okra mucilage at 1% level reduced the amount of French fries oil uptake and produced an acceptable product in quality and nutritional value.

Nozzle is one of the most important parts of the sprayer machines, which plays a decisive role in the production of droplets as well as reaching the target. The aim of this study is evaluate and compare the drift of the various nozzles using spraying simulator system and image processing method. In this study, three types of the most common nozzles used in Iran (flat fan 8002, 11003 and 11004) were investigated under spraying pressure levels (2, 3, 4 Bar) and wind speed at three levels (5, 8 and 11 km/hour). Experiments were conducted using water sensitive cards and the data including drift parameters, surface coverage, volumetric mean diameter, numerical mean diameter and quality of the spray droplets was acquired and determined using image processing and MATLAB Software. The results showed that the 11004 and 8002 nozzles have the least (%0. 196) and the highest (%0. 373) drift amount, respectively. Drift amount was increased with increasing of spraying pressure and wind speed. Also the highest and lowest levels of surface coverage of droplets were 0. 977 and 0. 031 percent, respectively. The surface coverage was increased with increasing injection pressure (2 to 4 Bar) and wind speed (5 to 8 km/h), and was declined with increasing distance from the nozzle (1 to 3 m).

Acrylamide is a toxic compound produced in some processed foods. The purpose of this research was to provide an easy and reliable method for measuring acrylamide in potato chips by HPLC-PDA. For this purpose, the effect of 5 columns ODS-H-C18 Optimal, Sphere-Image 80-5 ODS 2, Zorbax Hilic Plus, Lichrosorb-100 NH2 and Shodex NH2P-50 4E were investigated on the separation and measurement of acrylamide in chips. The best results were obtained with the use of the new generation of Shodex NH2P-50 4E amino columns, and acrylamide peak was isolated successfully without the need for solid state purification steps. The standard calibration curve was linear in the range of 100-5000 μ g / L (R2 = 0. 997). Recycling percentages in the range of 95. 9% to 102. 2%, the detection limit and the limit of value were 9 and 27 μ g / Kg respectively. The repeatability of this method was appropriate and the relative standard deviation was 4. 39%.

The dried products quality is influenced by the drying methods and different temperatures, especially on their smell and aroma. The electrohydrodynamic (EHD) method as a non-thermal drying method has an increasing effect on the rate of evaporation of product moisture content in ambient temperature and pressure, and preserve quality in dried food products. The objective of this study was to classify the quality of dried dates at three different air velocity by different drying conditions of electrohydrodynamic (EHD in 25 and 35 ° C), hot air (HA at 60 ° C) and hybrid drying (EHD-HA at 60 ° C) techniques based on odor using a multi-sensory olfactory machine. The results showed that dried date fruit quality base on its odor was classified to three classes (1: EHD at 25° C, 2: EHD at 35° C and 3: HA and EHD-HA at 60 ° C). The response of metal oxide semiconductor sensors in EHD method at 25 ° C was higher than the others which show the aroma of dried date fruit in class 1 is conserved more better than the other classes. Finally, the effective sensors were determined to recognize the odor of date fruit.