Generating highly digestible animal feed via thermo-chemical and hydrodynamic cavitation treatment of agricultural wastes /
Because of growing world population, food requirements have increased drastically during the past decades, leading to a bigger demand for protein sources for domesticated animals. The increased population also generates an increasing amount of waste that can be a valuable source for producing animal...
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| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
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[Place of publication not identified] :
[publisher not identified] ;
2002.
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| Online Access: | http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1397897121&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=2945&RQT=309&VName=PQD |
| Summary: | Because of growing world population, food requirements have increased drastically during the past decades, leading to a bigger demand for protein sources for domesticated animals. The increased population also generates an increasing amount of waste that can be a valuable source for producing animal feed. Thermo-chemical treatments promote the hydrolysis of protein-rich materials, splitting complex polymers into smaller molecules, improving digestibility, and generating products that enable animals to meet their needs for maintenance, growth, and production with less total feed. In this project, protein-rich materials were treated using Ca(OH)₂. A well-insulated stirred reactor was used to obtain a liquid rich in amino acids. For all protein-rich materials, the effect of lime loading, temperature, material loading, and time on the efficiency of protein solubilization and the product nutritional value was studied. Animal tissue hydrolyzes in less than 15 min, generating a well-balanced product that can be fed to monogastric animals; whereas, keratinous materials need long-term treatments (>4 h), affecting the susceptible amino acids (threonine, arginine and serine), and generating products that could be fed to ruminants. Lignocellulose materials have been considered as an alternative energy source because they can be converted to liquid fuels using an appropriate process. These materials are also extensively used in animal nutrition, especially as energy source for ruminants. Pretreatment of lignocellulose enhances digestibility by making the cellulose more accessible to the enzymes secreted by microorganisms. One promising pretreatment is cavitation, a potentially energy-efficient alternative. During cavitation, the biomass is impinged by microjets from bubbles that collapse near changing the crystalline structure of the biomass and indirectly affecting its degradability. This project presents the effect of cavitation on enzymatic digestibility of biomass. Lignocellulose was treated on a cavitation field using different temperatures, flow rates, and pressures. Solid samples were collected as a function of time and analyzed using a 3-d digestibility test. Cavitation was shown to affect the cellulose structure, generating a colloidal suspension, with a swollen solid structure and a higher digestibility. |
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| Item Description: | Vita. "December 2002." "Major Subject: Chemical Engineering." |
| Physical Description: | xix, 215 leaves : illustrations ; 28 cm. Issued also on microfiche. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 188-195). |