Coffee fruit production is an important agricultural sector in more than 70 tropical countries. However, the production of fruit spirits based on coffee fruits has not been investigated to date. This study evaluated, for the first time, its fermentation and distillation performance, ethanol yield and sensorial attributes. A selected yeast strain (Saccharomyces cerevisiae L.) fermented coffee cherry mash within five days and produced ethanol concentrations of 31.0 g/L. The mash was distilled and distillate fractions were categorized for heads/hearts/tails by sensory evaluation, resulting in an ethanol mass ratio of 1.0:4.2:0.8 with a total yield of 1.8% (w/w) ethanol based on coffee cherry mash. Analysis of fermentative volatiles indicated comparatively high methanol contents of 26 ± 4 g/L ethanol in the hearts fraction. Sensory evaluation of the hearts fraction resulted in 15 spirit specific descriptors, with vegetal and nutty indicating the most important terms to describe the perception of coffee cherry spirit. The results suggested that there is a high potential to introduce a fruit spirit based on coffee fruits.
Neuronal tissue and especially the central nervous system (CNS) is an excitable medium. Self-organisation, pattern formation, and propagating excitation waves as typical characteristics in excitable media consequently have been found in neuronal tissue. The properties of such phenomena in excitable media do critically depend on the parameters (i.e., electromagnetic fields, temperature, chemical drugs) of the system and on small external forces to which gravity belongs. The spreading depression, a propagating excitation depression wave of neuronal activity, is one of the best described of the those wave phenomena in the CNS. Especially in the retina as a true part of the CNS it can be easily observed with optical techniques due to the high intrinsic optical signal of this tissue. Another of such waves in neuronal tissue is the propagating action potential in nerve fibres. In this paper, data from our laboratories concerning the influence of gravity on the velocity of propagating waves in excitable media are summarized mainly in terms of the retinal spreading depression and propagating action potentials. Additionally, we have used waves in gels of the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction as the physicochemical model system of biological activity as the properties of these waves follow the same theories as the spreading depression and action potentials and they have some striking similarities in wave behavior. Thus propagating Belousov-Zhabotinsky waves are described by their gravity dependence.
The process of nutrient recovery from biogas digestate and the extraction of lactic acid from silages is technically feasible, but so far no investigations are available on the environmental sustainability of these technologies in the context of the biogas production chain. The aim of the present study is to show whether the recovery of nutrients from digestate (NR) and the extraction of lactic acid from silages (LA) can be integrated in the biogas production process system in an environmentally sustainable way. The modelling in the present study is based on the standards DIN ISO 14040 and DIN ISO 14044 and the results are evaluated with respect to the 100-year global warming potential, the primary energy demand and the eutrophication potential. Results show that the recovery of nutrients from digestate can be a sustainable solution to the problem of surplus nutrients in biogas regions. Furthermore, lactic acid, which is extracted from silages can provide an environmentally sustainable source of income for biogas plant operators. The urgency of the nutrient surplus problem in these regions calls for increased research and the support of policy makers to foster development activities.
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