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Rollin S, Gupta A, Franco CMM, Singh S, Puri M. Development of sustainable downstream processing for nutritional oil production. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2023; 11:1227889. [PMID: 37885455 PMCID: PMC10598382 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1227889] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2023] [Accepted: 09/26/2023] [Indexed: 10/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Nutritional oils (mainly omega-3 fatty acids) are receiving increased attention as critical supplementary compounds for the improvement and maintenance of human health and wellbeing. However, the predominant sources of these oils have historically shown numerous limitations relating to desirability and sustainability; hence the crucial focus is now on developing smarter, greener, and more environmentally favourable alternatives. This study was undertaken to consider and assess the numerous prevailing and emerging techniques implicated across the stages of fatty acid downstream processing. A structured and critical comparison of the major classes of disruption methodology (physical, chemical, thermal, and biological) is presented, with discussion and consideration of the viability of new extraction techniques. Owing to a greater desire for sustainable industrial practices, and a desperate need to make nutritional oils more available; great emphasis has been placed on the discovery and adoption of highly sought-after 'green' alternatives, which demonstrate improved efficiency and reduced toxicity compared to conventional practices. Based on these findings, this review also advocates new forays into application of novel nanomaterials in fatty acid separation to improve the sustainability of nutritional oil downstream processing. In summary, this review provides a detailed overview of the current and developing landscape of nutritional oil; and concludes that adoption and refinement of these sustainable alternatives could promptly allow for development of a more complete 'green' process for nutritional oil extraction; allowing us to better meet worldwide needs without costing the environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel Rollin
- Medical Biotechnology, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia
- Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Adarsha Gupta
- Medical Biotechnology, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Christopher M. M. Franco
- Medical Biotechnology, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | | | - Munish Puri
- Medical Biotechnology, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia
- Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia
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Huang T, Su Z, Hou K, Zeng J, Zhou H, Zhang L, Nunes SP. Advanced stimuli-responsive membranes for smart separation. Chem Soc Rev 2023. [PMID: 37184537 DOI: 10.1039/d2cs00911k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/16/2023]
Abstract
Membranes have been extensively studied and applied in various fields owing to their high energy efficiency and small environmental impact. Further conferring membranes with stimuli responsiveness can allow them to dynamically tune their pore structure and/or surface properties for efficient separation performance. This review summarizes and discusses important developments and achievements in stimuli-responsive membranes. The most commonly utilized stimuli, including light, pH, temperature, ions, and electric and magnetic fields, are discussed in detail. Special attention is given to stimuli-responsive control of membrane pore structure (pore size and porosity/connectivity) and surface properties (wettability, surface topology, and surface charge), from the perspective of determining the appropriate membrane properties and microstructures. This review also focuses on strategies to prepare stimuli-responsive membranes, including blending, casting, polymerization, self-assembly, and electrospinning. Smart applications for separations are also reviewed as well as a discussion of remaining challenges and future prospects in this exciting field. This review offers critical insights for the membrane and broader materials science communities regarding the on-demand and dynamic control of membrane structures and properties. We hope that this review will inspire the design of novel stimuli-responsive membranes to promote sustainable development and make progress toward commercialization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tiefan Huang
- Functional Membrane Materials Engineering Research Center of Hunan Province, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, 411201, China.
| | - Zhixin Su
- Functional Membrane Materials Engineering Research Center of Hunan Province, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, 411201, China.
| | - Kun Hou
- Functional Membrane Materials Engineering Research Center of Hunan Province, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, 411201, China.
| | - Jianxian Zeng
- Functional Membrane Materials Engineering Research Center of Hunan Province, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, 411201, China.
| | - Hu Zhou
- Functional Membrane Materials Engineering Research Center of Hunan Province, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, 411201, China.
| | - Lin Zhang
- Engineering Research Center of Membrane and Water Treatment of MOE, College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China.
- Academy of Ecological Civilization, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China
| | - Suzana P Nunes
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Nanostructured Polymeric Membranes Laboratory, Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials Center, Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering Division (BESE), Thuwal, 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.
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Ranasinghe Arachchige NR, Xiong NW, Bowden NB. Separation of C18 Fatty Acid Esters and Fatty Acids Derived from Vegetable Oils Using Nanometer-Sized Covalent Organic Frameworks Incorporated in Polyepoxy Membranes. ACS APPLIED NANO MATERIALS 2023; 6:6715-6725. [PMID: 37152919 PMCID: PMC10153466 DOI: 10.1021/acsanm.3c00442] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2023] [Accepted: 03/31/2023] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
Fatty acids (FAs) and FA methyl esters (FAMEs) are easily isolated from vegetable oil and are important starting materials for the chemical industry to produce commercial products that are green, biorenewable, and nontoxic. A challenge in these applications is that mixtures of five or more FAs and FAMEs are isolated from a vegetable oil source, and methods to separate these mixtures are decades old and have increasingly high costs associated with the production of high-purity single-component FAs or FAMEs. We developed a method to separate these mixtures using mixed matrix membranes containing nanometer-sized covalent organic frameworks. The 2D, crystalline COFs possessed narrow distributions of pore sizes of 1.3, 1.8, 2.3, and 3.4 nm that separated FAs and FAMEs based on their degrees of unsaturation. The COFs were synthesized, characterized, and then encapsulated at 10 or 20% by weight into a prepolymer of epoxy that was then fully cured. For all mixed matrix membranes, as the degree of unsaturation increased, the FAs or FAMEs had a slower flux. The largest difference in flux was obtained for a COF/epoxy membrane with a pore size of 1.8 nm, and methyl stearate had a 5.9× faster flux than methyl linolenate. These are the first membranes that can separate the important C18 FAs and FAMEs found in vegetable oil.
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He A, Jiang Z, Wu Y, Hussain H, Rawle J, Briggs ME, Little MA, Livingston AG, Cooper AI. A smart and responsive crystalline porous organic cage membrane with switchable pore apertures for graded molecular sieving. NATURE MATERIALS 2022; 21:463-470. [PMID: 35013552 PMCID: PMC8971131 DOI: 10.1038/s41563-021-01168-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 38.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2021] [Accepted: 11/11/2021] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Membranes with high selectivity offer an attractive route to molecular separations, where technologies such as distillation and chromatography are energy intensive. However, it remains challenging to fine tune the structure and porosity in membranes, particularly to separate molecules of similar size. Here, we report a process for producing composite membranes that comprise crystalline porous organic cage films fabricated by interfacial synthesis on a polyacrylonitrile support. These membranes exhibit ultrafast solvent permeance and high rejection of organic dyes with molecular weights over 600 g mol-1. The crystalline cage film is dynamic, and its pore aperture can be switched in methanol to generate larger pores that provide increased methanol permeance and higher molecular weight cut-offs (1,400 g mol-1). By varying the water/methanol ratio, the film can be switched between two phases that have different selectivities, such that a single, 'smart' crystalline membrane can perform graded molecular sieving. We exemplify this by separating three organic dyes in a single-stage, single-membrane process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ai He
- Department of Chemistry and Materials Innovation Factory, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - Zhiwei Jiang
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington, London, UK
- School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Yue Wu
- Department of Chemistry and Materials Innovation Factory, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | | | | | - Michael E Briggs
- Department of Chemistry and Materials Innovation Factory, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - Marc A Little
- Department of Chemistry and Materials Innovation Factory, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - Andrew G Livingston
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington, London, UK.
- School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
| | - Andrew I Cooper
- Department of Chemistry and Materials Innovation Factory, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
- Leverhulme Research Centre for Functional Materials Design, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
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Mains K, Peoples J, Fox JM. Kinetically guided, ratiometric tuning of fatty acid biosynthesis. Metab Eng 2021; 69:209-220. [PMID: 34826644 DOI: 10.1016/j.ymben.2021.11.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2021] [Revised: 10/29/2021] [Accepted: 11/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Cellular metabolism is a nonlinear reaction network in which dynamic shifts in enzyme concentration help regulate the flux of carbon to different products. Despite the apparent simplicity of these biochemical adjustments, their influence on metabolite biosynthesis tends to be context-dependent, difficult to predict, and challenging to exploit in metabolic engineering. This study combines a detailed kinetic model with a systematic set of in vitro and in vivo analyses to explore the use of enzyme concentration as a control parameter in fatty acid synthesis, an essential metabolic process with important applications in oleochemical production. Compositional analyses of a modeled and experimentally reconstituted fatty acid synthase (FAS) from Escherichia coli indicate that the concentration ratio of two native enzymes-a promiscuous thioesterase and a ketoacyl synthase-can tune the average length of fatty acids, an important design objective of engineered pathways. The influence of this ratio is sensitive to the concentrations of other FAS components, which can narrow or expand the range of accessible chain lengths. Inside the cell, simple changes in enzyme concentration can enhance product-specific titers by as much as 125-fold and elicit shifts in overall product profiles that rival those of thioesterase mutants. This work develops a kinetically guided approach for using ratiometric adjustments in enzyme concentration to control the product profiles of FAS systems and, broadly, provides a detailed framework for understanding how coordinated shifts in enzyme concentration can afford tight control over the outputs of nonlinear metabolic pathways.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathryn Mains
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, 3415 Colorado Avenue, Boulder, CO, 80303, USA
| | - Jackson Peoples
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, 3415 Colorado Avenue, Boulder, CO, 80303, USA
| | - Jerome M Fox
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, 3415 Colorado Avenue, Boulder, CO, 80303, USA.
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