First dive survey of Lake Tahoe’s lakebed finds high amounts of plastic and other litter

Scientists teamed up with nonprofit Clean Up the Lake to collect and analyze litter found on the bottom of Lake Tahoe

Peer-Reviewed Publication

DESERT RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Plastic litter is a growing problem around the world, and new research shows that the bottom of Lake Tahoe is no exception. In one of the first studies to utilize scuba divers to collect litter from a lakebed, 673 plastic items were counted from just a small fraction of the lake.  

In the study, published in the November issue of the journal Applied Spectroscopy, researchers from DRI and the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center teamed up with the nonprofit Clean Up the Lake to take a close look at the litter. First, scientists broke it down into categories based on use (such as food containers and water bottles), followed by the chemical composition of the plastic. The knowledge gained can help scientists better understand the source of large pieces of litter in the lake, as well as whether they’re a significant source of microplastics as larger pieces break down and degrade. Previous research found that the waters of Lake Tahoe contain high levels of microplastics, defined as plastics smaller than a pencil eraser. 

“There’s very little work on submerged plastic litter in lakes,” said Monica Arienzo, Ph.D., associate research professor of hydrology at DRI and one of the study’s lead authors. “And I think that’s a real issue, because when we think about how plastics may be moving in freshwater systems, there’s a good chance that they’ll end up in a lake.”  

To collect the litter, research divers swam transects along the lakebed near Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park and Zephyr Cove, covering 9.3 kilometers. They found an average of 83 pieces of plastic litter per kilometer, with the lakebed near Hidden Beach and South Sand Harbor showing significantly more (140 items/km and 124 items/km, respectively). No stretches of the lakebed surveyed were free of plastic litter.  

The most common plastic litter categories were food containers, bottles, plastic bags, and toys, along with many items that couldn’t be categorized.  

“There’s a lot of education we can do, as well as continuing to work on reducing the use of those plastics,” Arienzo says. “Because we have to start thinking about turning that plastic pipe off.”  

Arienzo and co-author Julia Davidson, then an undergraduate student working in Arienzo’s lab, also identified the types of plastic that made up 516 of the litter samples. Using an instrument that uses infrared light to fingerprint and identify the material, they found that the six most common plastics were polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polystyrene, polyester/polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyamide. Collecting this information can contribute to Arienzo’s ongoing microplastics research in the region, helping to identify the sources of the small plastic fragments. 

“When we study microplastics, we only have the chemical information, or the plastic type,” Davidson says. “We don’t know where it came from—a plastic bag, toy, or otherwise— because it’s just a tiny piece of plastic. But now we can use this litter data to point to the dominant types of plastics and compare them to microplastic data.”  

The study can help inform efforts by Tahoe-area communities to address plastic litter, such as South Lake Tahoe’s 2022 ban on single-use plastic bottles and Truckee’s ban on single-use food containers. The research also highlights ways that scientists can work with nonprofits to collect data that can address local environmental concerns.  

“I think one of the things that's really cool about this project is the collaboration between DRI, Clean Up the Lake, and UC Davis at Tahoe,” Arienzo says. “It demonstrates the power of bringing together a nonprofit that really wants to clean up Tahoe, while collecting data in the process that can help answer scientific questions.” 

  

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More information: The full study, Polymer Characterization of Submerged Plastic Litter from Lake Tahoe, is available from Applied Spectroscopy at https://doi.org/10.1177/00037028231201174 

 

Study authors include: Julia Davidson (DRI), Monica Arienzo (DRI), Zoe Harrold (Clear Horizons Consulting), Colin West (Clean Up the Lake), Erick R. Bandala (DRI), Sadye Easler (Clean Up the Lake), Katie Senft (UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center) 

 

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About DRI  

The Desert Research Institute (DRI) is a recognized world leader in basic and applied environmental research. Committed to scientific excellence and integrity, DRI faculty, students who work alongside them, and staff have developed scientific knowledge and innovative technologies in research projects around the globe. Since 1959, DRI’s research has advanced scientific knowledge on topics ranging from humans’ impact on the environment to the environment’s impact on humans. DRI’s impactful science and inspiring solutions support Nevada’s diverse economy, provide science-based educational opportunities, and inform policymakers, business leaders, and community members. With campuses in Las Vegas and Reno, DRI serves as the non-profit research arm of the Nevada System of Higher Education. For more information, please visit www.dri.edu. 

 

About Clean Up The Lake 

Clean Up The Lake is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to activate local communities to take action to protect their environment both above and below the surface, starting in Lake Tahoe. The organization has completed its flagship project of a 72 mile SCUBA cleanup of Lake Tahoe's entire circumference in 2022 and has gone on to clean up over 69,000 pounds of litter in the Sierra region, primarily from beneath the surface of Alpine Lakes. The non profit has expanded from submerged litter cleanups to include aquatic invasive species surveillance and education, collaborations to bring litter-art sculptures and stewardship messaging to communities they work in and also a variety of youth programs for our future generations. To learn more about the organization or to donate, please visit cleanupthelake.org. 
 

Media Contacts:  

DRI 

Elyse DeFranco 
Science Writer 
elyse.defranco@dri.edu 

 

Clean Up The Lake: 

Colin West 
+1 (530) 562 7131 
colin@cleanupthelake.org 

 

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JOURNAL

Applied Spectroscopy

DOI

10.1177/00037028231201174 

ARTICLE TITLE

Polymer Characterization of Submerged Plastic Litter from Lake Tahoe,

 

Designing the ‘perfect’ meal to feed long-term space travelers

Peer-Reviewed Publication

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

 

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THIS SALAD MADE UP OF SOYBEANS, POPPY SEEDS, BARLEY, KALE, PEANUTS, SWEET POTATO AND SUNFLOWER SEEDS COULD BE THE OPTIMAL MEAL FOR MEN ON LONG-TERM SPACE MISSIONS.

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CREDIT: ADAPTED FROM ACS FOOD SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2023, DOI: 10.1021/ACSFOODSCITECH.3C00396

Imagine blasting off on a multiyear voyage to Mars, fueled by a diet of bland, prepackaged meals. As space agencies plan for longer missions, they’re grappling with the challenge of how to best feed people. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Food Science & Technology have designed the optimal “space meal”: a tasty vegetarian salad. They chose fresh ingredients that meet male astronauts’ specialized nutritional needs and can be grown in space.

Astronauts in space burn more calories than humans on Earth and require extra micronutrients, such as calcium, to stay healthy during extended exposure to microgravity. Additionally, future long-term missions will require growing food in a sustainable, circular way within the spacecraft or space colonies. While researchers have explored methods of growing food in space and what nutrients astronauts require to stay healthy, specific fresh meals have not been developed. So, Volker Hessel and coworkers wanted to optimize a space meal that meets those unique requirements of spaceflight and tastes good.

First, the researchers assessed combinations of fresh ingredients, using a method called linear programming, which computationally balances different variables to meet a specific goal. In this case, their model identified how well the combinations of different foods could meet a male astronaut’s daily nutritional needs while minimizing the water required to grow the foods. The team was also concerned about the sustainability of the foods in space, selecting ingredients that needed little fertilizer, time and area to grow and whether inedible portions could be recycled. Of the 10 scenarios the researchers examined, they found that a vegetarian meal made up of soybeans, poppy seeds, barley, kale, peanuts, sweet potato and/or sunflower seeds provided the most efficient balance of maximal nutrients and minimal farming inputs. While this combination couldn’t quite provide all the micronutrients an astronaut needs, those missing could be added in a supplement, the researchers suggest.

To make sure that the identified combination was tasty, the team whipped up the ideal space meal as a salad for four people to taste test here on Earth. One tester gave rave reviews and “wouldn’t mind eating this all week as an astronaut.” Other people were more muted in their praise, even though they went back for second helpings. In the future, the researchers plan to see what their computer model dishes up as options for female astronauts and expand the variety of crops in their database.

The authors acknowledge funding from a University of Adelaide scholarship stipend.  

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The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS’ mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and all its people. The Society is a global leader in promoting excellence in science education and providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, eBooks and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a leader in scientific information solutions, its CAS division partners with global innovators to accelerate breakthroughs by curating, connecting and analyzing the world’s scientific knowledge. ACS’ main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.

Note: ACS does not conduct research, but publishes and publicizes peer-reviewed scientific studies.

Follow us: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram

 

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JOURNAL

ACS Food Science & Technology

DOI

10.1021/acsfoodscitech.3c00396 

ARTICLE TITLE

Modeling of Space Crop-Based Dishes for Optimal Nutrient Delivery to Astronauts and Beyond  Earth

 

Researchers receive USDA grant to study changing food spending patterns

Grant and Award Announcement

VIRGINIA TECH

 

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RESEARCHERS AT VIRGINIA TECH ARE STUDYING THE EFFECTS AND IMPLICATIONS OF THE CHANGING FOOD SPENDING PATTERNS ON THE PROFITABILITY AND WELFARE OF FARMERS, FOOD PROCESSORS, AND CONSUMERS.

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CREDIT: PHOTO BY SAM DEAN FOR VIRGINIA TECH.

After a long day, there’s the age-old question of do we eat out or stay in?

Over the last decade, that answer has increasingly shifted to eating out.

In that timeframe, households have increasingly spent more money on food outside of the home than what's spent on eating at home. In that same time, the farmer’s share of the food dollar eaten outside of the home has declined while the share of food eaten at home has increased.

With a more than $550,000 grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, researchers George Davis and Anubhab Gupta, in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics in Virginia Tech's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, are studying the effects of the changing food spending patterns on the profitability and welfare of farmers, food processors, and consumers, or welfare through the United States’ food supply chain.

“Our project aims to look at the changing profitability and welfare effects in the food supply chain while recognizing that the effects will depend on the underlying market structure and consumer socioeconomic, demographic, and environmental factors,” said George Davis, professor in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics and project lead.

The research team has four objectives:

• Look at how the difference between retail food prices and farm prices have changed over time as spending on food at home and food away from home has changed
• Determine to what extent consumers have benefitted from the change in eating food at home versus food away from home.
• Consider what role the degree of competition within the food supply chain has affected profitability and welfare for the farmer, processors, and consumers as food spending patterns have changed.
• Consider how alternative policies affecting food at home and food away from home spending will affect profitability and welfare throughout the food supply chain.

The project will combine well-established research areas that have not been joined before to understand important policy-relevant questions regarding price and quantity relationships, market structure, and welfare distribution throughout the associated market.

To achieve the objectives, the team will utilize public-use consumer expenditure survey microdata from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, NBER-CES Manufacturing Industry Database, and estimates from the literature.

“Our integrated framework will answer important policy and scenario questions related to socioeconomic and demographic profile of consumers, COVID-19, Ukraine war, etc. on welfare distribution throughout the food supply chain, while extending our knowledge on the four strands of literature and a unique way of integrating them,” Davis said.

 

Greener and feasible production: Enzymatic methods for mono- and diacylglycerol synthesis in the food industry

Peer-Reviewed Publication

HENAN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

 

IMAGE: 

GRAPHIC ABSTRACT.

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CREDIT: THE AUTHORS

MAGs, predominantly in 1(3)-MAG form, and DAGs, with 1,3-DAGs as the more stable isomer, are crucial in food, cosmetic, and other industries. While MAGs are vital emulsifiers, comprising 75% of global production, DAGs are known as functional cooking oils that can reduce body fat and serum TAGs. However, their natural concentration in oils is low, prompting extensive research into their chemical and environmentally-friendly enzymatic production.
Recently, a review published in the Grain & Oil Science and Technology journal on 2 November 2023, has shed light on the advancements in enzymatic production methods with special efforts on practical and industrial technologies such as comprehensive discussions on system designs and patent evaluations. This study presents these methods as a sustainable and efficient alternative to conventional chemical processes, emphasizing their role in revolutionizing industry standards.
This review presents an in-depth review of the last 15 years in enzymatic production of monoacylglycerols (MAGs) and diacylglycerols (DAGs), focusing on the advancements and varied pathways like esterification, glycerolysis, and more. It emphasizes how enzyme choice, substrates, and conditions affect the efficiency and quality of MAGs and DAGs, highlighting the role of reaction media in enhancing reaction homogeneity and product yield. The review also explores the practicalities of scaling enzymatic processes for industrial use, discussing the challenges of maintaining enzyme activity and the economic implications of enzyme use. Additionally, it evaluates numerous patents, reflecting a growing interest in this eco-friendly technology. The review underlines the transformative potential of enzymatic production in delivering higher quality, more sustainable MAGs and DAGs while acknowledging the ongoing challenges and the need for further innovation in this field.
The review's lead authors, Jiawei Zheng and colleagues, underscore the industry's increasing shift towards enzymatic processes over the past two decades. They note, "Enzymatic methods are not just alternatives but are becoming the standard due to their specificity, lower energy requirements, and ability to preserve sensitive components."
Transitioning to enzymatic production has vast implications for the food industry, offering safer and more sustainable emulsifiers and cooking oils. The ability to control reaction specifics leads to higher quality products, meeting consumer demands for healthier and more natural food ingredients. From the discussion of the practical considerations of technologies and potential possibilities, the reasonable economy for the production in plants can be expected.
The review anticipates further industry adoption and innovation in enzyme technologies. However, it also calls for continued research to overcome challenges like reaction efficiency and large-scale application, ensuring that enzymatic methods can fully meet global demand.
Reference
Funding information
The National Natural Science Foundation of China (31772000).
DOI
10.1016/j.gaost.2023.10.002
Original Url
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gaost.2023.10.002
About Grain & Oil Science and Technology
Grain & Oil Science and Technology (GOST, https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/grain-and-oil-science-and-technology) is a peer-reviewed Open Access (OA) journal and upon acceptance all articles are permanently and freely available on ScienceDirect. GOST publishes innovative papers in the fields of grain engineering (processing and storage of staple food grain and cereals), food science and engineering (food chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, nutrition, food safety), oil science and engineering (processing and storage of oils and fats, oil chemistry for food use). Contributions written in English in the form of critical reviews, research papers, short communications, short reviews are welcomed.

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JOURNAL

Grain & Oil Science and Technology

DOI

10.1016/j.gaost.2023.10.002 

ARTICLE TITLE

Enzymatic preparation of mono- and diacylglycerols: A review

Effect of ultrasound-assisted fermentation on physicochemical properties and volatile flavor compounds of Chinese rice wine

Peer-Reviewed Publication

KEAI COMMUNICATIONS CO., LTD.

 

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PULSED MULTI-FREQUENCY SCANNING ULTRASONIC EQUIPMENT. 1: COMPUTER CONTROL SYSTEM; 2: ULTRASONIC GENERATOR; 3: ULTRASONIC POOL; 4: SAMPLE TREATMENT VESSEL; 5: WATER; 6: ULTRASONIC TRANSDUCER.

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CREDIT: RONG ZHANG ET AL

Traditional Chinese rice wine (RW) has been popular in China for thousands of years. The brewing process involves simultaneous saccharification and solid-state fermentation using mixed saccharifying starters, such as wheat starter and distiller’s yeast. However, the brewing medium contains a diverse array of microorganisms, and the quality of starters varies across regions. This leads to an unpredictable fermentation process and inconsistent RW product quality. In addition, traditionally fermented RW has several limitations including thin taste, long brewing time, slow product conversion and limited application of high-technology. Although some progress has been made in addressing the limitations of traditional brewing, the need for further research and innovation remains.  

Ultrasound, as a new non-thermal physical processing technique, has extensively been utilized to overcome the drawbacks of conventional fermentation. Some studies have showed that the application of ultrasonic technology in brewing can enhance the fermentation efficiency and quality. To date, research on ultrasound-assisted fermentation has mainly focused on the pure culture fermentation process in the laboratory.

To that end, a new study published in the KeAi journal Food Physics, established an enzymatic brewing process for RW by simulating actual production. By adding α-amylase to liquefy the starch, it is hydrolyzed from long-chain starch to short-chain dextrin and oligosaccharides to assist saccharifying enzyme in converting starch into fermentable sugar.

The researchers, based in China, analyzed the impact of ultrasound on the physicochemical properties and volatile compounds during the fermentation process. They found that concentrations of isobutyl acetate, ethyl butyrate, ethyl hexanoate and phenethyl acetate exhibited significant increases of 58.03%, 107.70%, 31.84%, and 18.71%, respectively.

The findings suggest that the utilization of ultrasound in the brewing process could be feasible  for simplifying the procedure, reducing brewing time and enhancing the volatile flavor profile of RW.

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Contact the author: Rong Zhang, School of Food and Biological Engineering,Jiangsu University,Zhenjiang 212013,China. Email:zhangrong1776@126.com

The publisher KeAi was established by Elsevier and China Science Publishing & Media Ltd to unfold quality research globally. In 2013, our focus shifted to open access publishing. We now proudly publish more than 100 world-class, open access, English language journals, spanning all scientific disciplines. Many of these are titles we publish in partnership with prestigious societies and academic institutions, such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).

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JOURNAL

Food Physics

DOI

10.1016/j.foodp.2023.100006 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Cells

ARTICLE TITLE

Effect of ultrasound-assisted fermentation on physicochemical properties and volatile flavor compounds of Chinese rice wine

COI STATEMENT

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Using electricity, scientists find promising new method of boosting chemical reactions

UChicago chemists hope to lay foundation for greener chemistry

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

As the world moves away from gas towards electricity as a greener power source, the to-do list goes beyond cars. The vast global manufacturing network that makes everything from our batteries to our fertilizers needs to flip the switch, too.

A study from UChicago chemists found a way to use electricity to boost a type of chemical reaction often used in synthesizing new candidates for pharmaceutical drugs.

Published Jan. 2 in Nature Catalysis, the research is an advance in the field of electrochemistry and shows a path forward to designing and controlling reactions—and making them more sustainable.

“What we want to do is understand what’s happening at the fundamental level at the electrode interface, and use that to predict and design more efficient chemical reactions,” said Anna Wuttig, UChicago Neubauer Family Assistant Professor and the senior author on the paper. “This is a step towards that eventual goal.”

 

Chemical complexity

In certain chemical reactions, electricity can boost the output—and because you can get the needed electricity from renewable sources, it could be part of making the worldwide chemical industry greener.

But electrochemistry, as the field is known, is especially complex. There is much scientists don’t know about the molecular interactions, especially because you have to insert a conductive solid (an electrode) into the mix to provide the electricity, which means the molecules interact with that electrode as well as with each other. To a scientist trying to untangle the roles each molecule is playing and in what order, this makes an already complicated process even more complicated.

Wuttig, however, wants to turn this into an advantage. “What if you think about it as electrochemistry providing us with a unique design lever that’s not possible in any other system?” she said.

In this case, she and her team focused on the surface of the electrode that provides the electricity to the reaction.

“There were hints that the surface itself is catalytic, that it plays a role,” Wuttig said, “but we don’t know how to systematically control those interactions at the molecular level.”

They tinkered with a type of reaction that is commonly used in manufacturing chemicals for medicine, to form a bond between two carbon atoms.

According to theoretical predictions, when this reaction is performed using electricity, the yield from the reaction should be 100%—that is, all the molecules that went in are made into a single new substance. But when you actually run the reaction in the lab, the yield is lower.

The team thought the presence of the electrode was tempting some of the molecules away from where they were needed during the reaction. They found that adding a key ingredient could help: a chemical known as a Lewis acid added to the liquid solution redirected those molecules.

 “You get a near-clean reaction,” Wuttig said.

 

Catalyzing change

Moreover, the team was able to use special imaging techniques to watch the reactions unfold at the molecular level. “You can see that the presence of the modulator has a profound effect on the interfacial structure,” she said. “This allows us to visualize and understand what’s happening, rather than regard it as a black box.” 

This is a crucial step, Wuttig said, because it shows a path forward towards being able to not only use the electrode in chemistry, but also to predict and control its effects.

Another benefit is that the electrode can be re-used for more reactions. (In most reactions, the catalyst is dissolved in the liquid and is drained away during the purification process to get the final product).

“This is a step towards sustainable synthesis,” she said. “Moving forward, my group is very excited to use these types of concepts and strategies to map out and address other synthetic challenges.”

 

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JOURNAL

Nature Catalysis

DOI

10.1038/s41929-023-01073-5 

ARTICLE TITLE

Interfacial tuning of electrocatalytic Ag surfaces for fragment-based electrophile coupling

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

2-Jan-2024

 

Cultivated kelp can now be as good as wild kelp

You may not know much about alginates, but you have probably used them or eaten them. Cultivating kelp can help expand the market for this useful product

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

 

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THERE’S A LOT OF MONEY TO BE MADE BY CULTIVATING KELP. KATHARINA NØKLING-EIDE, A PHD CANDIDATE AT THE NORWEGIAN SEAWEED BIOREFINERY PLATFORM, IS HELPING MAKE IT HAPPEN.

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CREDIT: PHOTO: ALEKSANDER STOKKE BÅTNES, NTNU

Norway’s exports products derived from from tangle kelp (Laminoria hyperborea) and knotted kelp (Ascophyllum nodosu) to the tune of more than NOK 1 billion a year. The industry mainly extracts alginate from kelp, which is used in over 600 different products as diverse as paint, soft serve ice cream, sauces, bandages, nappies, acid reflux medicine and material for encapsulating cells and medicine. However, the market is far from saturated.

“Alginate is becoming a scarce commodity on the global market. There are great opportunities here if we could cultivate more kelp that yielded alginate of good enough quality,” says Finn Aachmann, a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) who heads the Norwegian Seaweed Biorefinery Platform.

Today, wild tangle kelp is harvested from the large kelp forests that grow naturally along the Norwegian coast, but there are limits on the amount that can be harvested. We need new resources if we want to expand the Norwegian kelp market. Cultivated kelp is a good alternative.

The kelp industry is expanding

Tangle kelp grows so slowly that its cultivation is simply not worthwhile. Over the past decade, the cultivation of more fast-growing kelp species has developed into a thriving industry.

“This year, between 600 and 700 tonnes of sugar kelp and winged kelp were grown on ropes in the sea,” says Katharina Nøkling-Eide, a PhD candidate at the Norwegian Seaweed Biorefinery Platform.

However, alginate comes in many forms, and cultivated sugar kelp and winged kelp don't produce alginate of the same high quality as wild tangle kelp does. Cultivated kelp is currently so expensive that it is only used in food production.

“This is a shame because production could be scaled up significantly through the development of new, high-quality products from cultivated kelp. Alginate could be one of these products,” says Nøkling-Eide.

Fortunately, new findings may help us be able to extract better alginate from the cultivated kelp. This research has been undertaken under the auspices of the Norwegian Seaweed Biorefinery Platform and Industrial Biotechnology (SFI-IB), a Norwegian Centre for Research-based Innovation.

Cultivated species can be just as good

“We have developed a new method for efficiently upgrading alginates from cultivated kelp,” says Aachmann.

The solution involves enzymes called epimerases. Enzymes promote chemical reactions between different substances without the enzymes themselves being used up.

“These epimerases convert mannuronic acid into guluronic acid in the alginate chain, so that the alginates are more similar to the tangle kelp alginates than they originally were, making them more industrially viable,” says the professor.

Researchers isolated these enzymes for the first time from an alginate-producing bacterium in Trondheim more than 50 years ago, so this research goes back a long way. However, it is not until now that the seaweed industry has embraced the solution.

Required additional time and resources – until now

“Over the past 30 years, several studies have shown that we can use these epimerases to upgrade alginates from seaweed and kelp, but the kelp industry has not yet started using them,” says Aachmann.

Upgrading alginates after they have been extracted and purified from the kelp biomass takes additional time and resources. So, the industry hasn’t really been tempted to use the method.

However, what if you could add these enzymes at the same time as extracting the alginate from kelp – so you wouldn’t have to spend extra time and money doing it afterwards?

This is exactly what researchers from SINTEF and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) have managed to do. They carried out the study in a joint laboratory for kelp in Trondheim.

Improves alginate during extraction

“We have shown that it is possible to epimerise alginates from sugar kelp, winged kelp and the lamina fraction, which is the leaf -like section at the top of the stalk, during the actual alginate extraction process,” says Nøkling-Eide.

In other words, the alginate is refined at the same time as it is being extracted from kelp. This saves time and is cost-effective.

“In large-scale trials, we managed to get an alginate from cultivated sugar kelp that was just as good as the industry would normally get from wild-harvested tangle kelp,” says Nøkling-Eide.

The researchers also believe that it is possible to achieve similar results with cultivated winged kelp.

Good news for kelp farmers

“The findings of this study are encouraging. In the future, Norwegian alginate may also come from cultivated kelp,” says Aachmann.

Kelp farmers are also dependent on established kelp markets, because they need someone to sell all their kelp to. This will help kelp farmers further increase their production.

“The alginate market is an established market that can help secure the livelihoods of kelp farmers in the future. In that sense, it is a win–win situation,” says Nøkling-Eide.

New products from kelp are important for SFI Industrial Biotechnology. The centre's partners are SINTEF, NTNU, NMBU and NORCE and 16 industrial companies.

Reference: Katharina Nøkling-Eide, Finn Lillelund Aachmann, Anne Tøndervik, Øystein Arlov, Håvard Sletta, In-process epimerisation of alginates from Saccharina latissima, Alaria esculenta and Laminaria hyperborean, Carbohydrate Polymers. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbpol.2023.121557

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JOURNAL

Carbohydrate Polymers

DOI

10.1016/j.carbpol.2023.121557 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

In-process epimerisation of alginates from Saccharina latissima, Alaria esculenta and Laminaria hyperborea

 

CHINA

Monetized evaluation of landscape resources of national parks based on the willingness to pay of multiple interest groups

Peer-Reviewed Publication

HIGHER EDUCATION PRESS

 

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FUNCTION ZONING AND CURRENT LAND USE OF QIANJIANGYUAN NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM PILOT ZONE

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CREDIT: PENG WANG

In China, national parks represent the country’s most unique natural landscapes. Scientific evaluation of landscape resources is significant for preserving the authenticity and integrity of national parks. Taking Qianjiangyuan National Park System Pilot Zone as an example, this research investigated the willingness of internal group (residents and administrative staff) and external group (tourists) to pay for a hypothetical market project based on the pilot zone via Contingent Valuation Method to acquire the monetized value of landscape resources in the national park, and applied Logistic Regression to analyze the influencing factors. The results show that the payment rate of external group is higher than that of internal group, and people with different demographics have different payment rates. Both internal and external groups are willing to pay to improve ecological environment, but there are significant differences on reasons for refusal—having a low income is the main reason for the internal group, and the external respondents refuse mainly because of the belief that the payment is owed to government finance. The total monetized value of the research area is 135 million yuan, of which the external value is much higher than internal value. The attitude factors influence landscape resource value more significantly than demographic and environmental factors. The assessment of landscape resource value of national parks is affected by perceptions and demands of multiple interest groups. This research suggests accelerating the construction of a standardized assessment technical system to support the establishment of national park system in China.

 

The work entitled “Monetized Evaluation of Landscape Resources of National Parks Based on the Willingness to Pay of Multiple Interest Groups” was published on the journal of Landscape Architecture Frontiers.

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JOURNAL

Landscape Architecture Frontiers

DOI

10.15302/J-LAF-1-020079 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Monetized Evaluation of Landscape Resources of National Parks Based on the Willingness to Pay of Multiple Interest Groups