Optimisation of the Oil Extraction from Nigella sativa Seeds Using Response Surface Methodology

Nigella sativa, also known as black cumin, an annual herbaceous plant growing especially in Mediterranean countries, has recently gained considerable interest not only for its use as spice and condiment but also for its healthy properties of the fixed and essential oil and its potential as a biofuel. Nigella sativa seeds fixed oil, due to its high content in linoleic acid followed by oleic and palmitic acid, could be beneficial to human health. The objective of this study is to determine the optimum conditions for the solvent extraction of Nigella sativa seeds fixed oil using a three-level, three-factor Box-Behnken design (BBD) under response surface methodology (RSM). The obtained experimental data, fitted by a second-order polynomial equation were analysed by Pareto analysis of variance (ANOVA). From a total of 10 coefficients of the statistical model only 5 are important. The obtained experimental values agreed with the predicted ones.

Ultrasound influence upon calcium carbonate precipitation on bacterial cellulose membranes

The effect of ultrasonic irradiation (40 kHz) on the calcium carbonate deposition on bacterial cellulose membranes was investigated using calcium chloride (CaCl(2)) and sodium carbonate (Na(2)CO(3)) as starting reactants. The composite materials containing bacterial cellulose-calcium carbonate were characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and color measurements. The polymorphs of calcium carbonate that were deposited on bacterial cellulose membranes in the presence or in the absence of ultrasonic irradiation were calcite and vaterite. The morphology of the obtained crystals was influenced by the concentration of starting solutions and by the presence of ultrasonic irradiation. In the presence of ultrasonic irradiation the obtained crystals were bigger and in a larger variety of shapes than in the absence of ultrasounds: from cubes of calcite to spherical and flower-like vaterite particles. Bacterial cellulose could be a good matrix for obtaining different types of calcium carbonate crystals.