Technical and economic aspects of purification strategies to minimise discharge water from companies with closed soilless cultivation systems

The aim of the research project was to achieve closure by two complementary means: 1) maximising reuse of the nutrient solution by solving problems in recirculation that leads to discharge, and 2) purification of the left over discharged water. In this paper the technical and economic aspects of purification strategies for single companies will...

Comparison of environmental impact and energy efficiency of desalination processes by LCA

In this study two desalination technologies have been compared by means of LCA with the focus on energy supply with a variety of scenarios based on different assumptions. The studied technologies are reverse osmosis and the newly developed technology Memstill where electrical energy demand is reduced by using external thermal energy source and...

Role of the non-digestible carbohydrate lactulose in the absorption of calcium

The current trends in healthy eating will increase levels of bulk- forming material in the diet, such as dietary fibre and other plant foods. Depending on the complex forming of such material the availability of absorbable calcium and other minerals may be impaired. It seems that non- digestible carbohydrates can inverse this effect. Major...

Combined influence of growth and drying conditions on the activity of dried Lactobacillus plantarum

The production of active dried starter cultures can be influenced at several levels in the production process. In this paper the following process factors are discussed: osmotic stress during growth and cell density prior to drying. Contradicting results are reported in the literature on the influence of osmotic stress during growth on the...

An optimized hyperfiltration process for concentrating aqueous solutions of high osmotic pressure

A continuous process is described in which a combination of low and high retention membrane modules is applied. Such a combination can give higher production rates and lower product losses than conventional hyperfiltration processes. Moreover it gives the possibility to concentrate solutions to osmotic values higher than the applied pressure....