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Since emulsifying properties are important functional properties of soy protein, many physical, chemical, and enzymatic methods have been applied to treat soy protein to improve emulsifying properties. In this study, we investigated the effects of swirling cavitation at different pressures and for different times on emulsifying and physicochemical properties of soy protein isolate (SPI). The SPI treated with swirling cavitation showed a significant decrease in particle size and increase in solubility. Emulsions formed from treated SPI had higher emulsifying activity and emulsifying stability indexes, smaller oil droplet sizes, lower flocculation indexes, higher adsorbed proteins, lower interfacial protein concentrations, and lower creaming indexes than those formed from untreated SPI, indicating that swirling cavitation improved the emulsifying properties of the SPI. Furthermore, swirling cavitation treatment significantly enhanced the surface hydrophobicity, altered the disulfide bond and exposed sulfhydryl group contents of the SPI. The secondary structure of the SPI was also influenced by swirling cavitation, with an increase in β-sheet content and a decrease in α-helix, β-turn, and random coil contents. In addition, several significant correlations between physicochemical and emulsifying properties were revealed by Pearson correlation analysis, suggesting that the physicochemical changes observed in treated SPI, including the decreased particle size, increased solubility and surface hydrophobicity, and enhanced β-sheet formation, may explain the improved emulsifying properties of the isolate. Thus, our findings implied that swirling cavitation treatment may be an effective technique to improve the emulsifying properties of SPI.

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Low temperature decomposition of precursors usually leads to higher cobalt dispersion. In this study, we present a method to decompose cobalt precursors by using dielectric-barrier discharge (DBD) plasma without requiring a thermal calcination process. Cobalt (Co) catalysts prepared by DBD plasma were characterized by a range of techniques. The results indicate that the DBD decomposition method can not only reduce the decomposition time but also achieve an increased Co dispersion, small Co 3 O 4 cluster size and uniform distribution compared to traditional calcination method. It was observed that the DBD-treated catalysts performed well in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and were favorable for heavy hydrocarbon formation.

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Highlights Investigated anti-solvent crystallization of sucrose. Measurement of supersaturation level of anti-solvent crystallization. Abegg Stevens and Larson model was used to calculate crystallization kinetics. Lower activation energy of crystallization in an ultrasonic field.