Title : New approaches in exploring the potential of agro biomass for food and nutraceutical applications
Abstract:
Our main research focus is the development of processes for exploration of biomass and their transformation into valuable compounds. We have developed edible coatings from waste biomass and demonstrated their use in shelf life enhancement of tomatoes. An economical process for extraction of pectin from black carrot pomace using intermittent microwave, ultrasound and conventional heating has been developed. Ultrasonication was found to be a useful technology for the retention of quality and antioxidants potential of vegetables on hot-air convective drying. Also, an ethanol tolerant bacterium Acetobacter pasteurianus SKYAA25 has been identified and characterized for acetic acid production from apple pomace. An efficient and economic process for the production of bacterial cellulose from isolated strain of Acetobacter pasteurianus RSV-4 bacterium was developed. Yet another technology on processing-independent extracellular production of high purity C-phycocyanin from Spirulina platensis has been developed. Also, developed an improved upstream processing for detoxification and recovery of xylitol from rice straw and corncob. Biocatalysts have been developed and used in the sustainable process for rare sugars production from pure substarte as well as from biomass derived sugars. Xylanase of Acinetobacter pitti MASK 25 has been used to develop magnetic-xylanase CLEA for the sustainable production of novel prebiotic predominantly comprised of xylopentose and xylohexose from agro biomass. We have been exploring the use of non-thermal processing technology such as cold plasma in the extraction of valuable compounds like polyphenols, dietary fibers, antioxidants, oligosaccharides from biomass.
