Determination of spherosomes from lees materials

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Materials Science
• Biotechnology

Background:

• Organochlorine compounds are persistent environmental pollutants.
• Adsorption is a key method for removing these contaminants.
• Lees materials, byproducts of food processing, are potential low-cost adsorbents.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the efficacy of various lees materials in adsorbing organochlorine compounds.
• To investigate the relationship between spherosome content and adsorption performance.
• To compare lees materials with activated carbon as an adsorbent.

Main Methods:

• Determination of spherosome count in lees materials (rice bran, wheat bran, rapeseed, linseed, okara, sakekasu) using a hemacytometer and optical microscopy.
• Evaluation of adsorption efficiency for chloroform, dichloromethane, and benzene.
• Correlation analysis between spherosome number and removal efficiency.

Main Results:

• The number of spherosomes varied significantly across different lees materials, ranging from 1.82 x 10(10) particles/g (sakekasu) to 4.95 x 10(10) particles/g (wheat bran).
• A strong positive correlation was observed between the spherosome count and the removal efficiency of organochlorine compounds.
• Lees materials demonstrated potential for adsorbing target organochlorine compounds.

Conclusions:

• Spherosome content is a critical factor determining the adsorption capacity of lees materials for organochlorine compounds.
• Lees materials, particularly those with higher spherosome counts, show promise as sustainable and effective adsorbents.
• Further research into optimizing lees materials for environmental remediation is warranted.