From agriculture to industry:

Lignocellulosic biomass is a renewable source of raw
material for the production of a wide variety of
compounds. The thesis deals with the production of
xylo-oligosaccharides from agricultural residues
(typical from the Mediterranean region of Spain)
with potential applications in the food and
pharmaceutical fields. The xylo-oligosaccharides
were produced by autohydrolysis reaction varying the
temperature and reaction time. All the xylo-
oligosaccharides obtained showed structural features
of a partially O-acetylated 4-O-methylglucuronoxylan
with different degrees of substitution depending on
the raw material used. Several purification methods
were tested for the removal of impurities and/or
separation in different molecular weight fractions,
like precipitation, ultrafiltration using polymeric
membranes and adsorption of impurities onto
activated carbons. The antioxidant activity and the
immunomodulatory activity of xylo-oligosaccharides
were also tested. It was found that all of them have
a strong antioxidant activity compared with that of
natural products, making them potential candidates
for their use as food additives.

Autorentext

She was born in 1977 in Balcarce, Argentina. Graduated as Chemical Engineer from the University of Mar del Plata in 2001, then moved to Spain to start her PhD studies. She obtained the PhD degree in 2006 in Chemical and Process Engineering at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili. At the present time she continues to work at that University.

Klappentext

Lignocellulosic biomass is a renewable source of rawmaterial for the production of a wide variety of compounds. The thesis deals with the production of xylo-oligosaccharides from agricultural residues (typical from the Mediterranean region of Spain) with potential applications in the food and pharmaceutical fields. The xylo-oligosaccharides were produced by autohydrolysis reaction varying the temperature and reaction time. All the xylo-oligosaccharides obtained showed structural featuresof a partially O-acetylated 4-O-methylglucuronoxylanwith different degrees of substitution depending on the raw material used. Several purification methodswere tested for the removal of impurities and/orseparation in different molecular weight fractions,like precipitation, ultrafiltration using polymeric membranes and adsorption of impurities onto activated carbons. The antioxidant activity and the immunomodulatory activity of xylo-oligosaccharides were also tested. It was found that all of them have a strong antioxidant activity compared with that of natural products, making them potential candidates for their use as food additives.