Research optimization possibilities of technological process of production of plant-based biostimulators : diploma thesis

U ovom diplomskom radu ispitana je mogućnost optimizacije tehnološkog procesa proizvodnje biostimulatora na biljnoj bazi s ciljem povećanja brzine procesa i prinosa bioaktivnih tvari. Biostimulatori su pripremljeni dodavanjem mješavine odabranog osušenog biljnog materijala (korijen gaveza, list koprive, poljska preslica te list sljeza) i vodovodne vode kao otapala u šaržni reaktor. Optimizacija je provedena jednovarijantnom tehnikom „jedna varijabla u vremenu“ pri čemu se ispitivao utjecaj temperature, miješanja, omjera sirovina/otapalo i režima aeracije na brzinu procesa i količinu prinosa u vremenu od 7 dana. Za temperaturu su odabrane vrijednosti 20, 25, 35 i 45 °C, za miješanje broj okretaja 250, 500 i 750 o min -1 , za omjer sirovina/otapalo 15, 20, 25, 30 i 35 g L -1 , a za aeraciju protok zraka od 0,1; 0,3 i 0,5 L min -1 . Nakon provedenog niza eksperimenata utvrdilo se da su za ovaj tip procesa optimalne vrijednosti parametara sljedeće: temperatura smjese od 35 °C, brzina miješanja od 250 o min -1 , omjer sirovina/otapalo od 30 g L -1 te aeracijski režim od 0,3 L min -1 . Također, ispitana je i mogućnost optimizacije izvedbe reaktora za provedbu procesa ekstrakcije gdje se pokazalo da izvedba reaktora sa ugrađenim dvjema perforiranim pliticama postavljenim na 20% i 80% visine reaktora povećavaju učinkovitost procesa u odnosu na referentni proces. Kao referentni proces koristio se proces proizvodnje biostimulatora na biljnoj bazi na OPG Vedran Pezelj u Trilju čiji se biostimulatori nalaze na tržištu od 2018. godine.In this diploma thesis, the possibility of optimizing the technological process of plant-based biostimulator production with the aim of increasing the process kinetic and yield of bioactive substances was investigated. Biostimulators were prepared by adding a mixture of selected dried plant material (comfrey root, nettle leaf, horsetail and marshmallow leaf) and tap water as solvent into the batch reactor. The optimization was performed using a single-variant "one time variable" technique, investigating the influence of the temperature, mixing, raw material/solvent ratio and aeration regime on the process kinetic and yield over time of 7 days. Values of 20, 25, 35 and 45 ° C were selected for the temperature, 250, 500 and 750 rpm for mixing, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 g L -1 for the raw material/solvent ratio, and for aeration the flow of air at 0.1; 0.3 and 0.5 L min -1 . After a set of experiments, it was determined that for this type of process the optimal parameter values are as follows: mixture temperature of 35 ° C, mixing speed of 250 rpm, raw material/solvent ratio of 30 g L -1 and aeration regime of 0.3 L min -1 . Also, the possibility of optimizing the reactor design for the extraction process was investigated, where it was shown that the design of the reactor with two perforated trays installed at 20% and 80% of the reactor height increases the process efficiency compared to the reference process. The process of plant-based biostimulator production at the Vedran Pezelj family farm in Trilj was used as a reference process, whose biostimulators have been on the market since 2018