Browsing by Author "Iloabuchi Chinwenwa, Gold"

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    Synthesis and Interventive Performances of Alumina, Silica and their Complexes in Aflatoxin Adsorption In-Vitro
    (March 2016) Iloabuchi Chinwenwa, Gold
    Aflatoxin contamination of foods is a major concern in the world especially in developing countries. Various binding agents have been used to deactivate aflatoxins in food. In this study, an experimental design using response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to develop a model in order to predict aflatoxin adsorption potential of alumina and silica complexes (ASC) in- vitro. The independent variables were amount of alumina (A: 20 to 60 %), silica (B: 40 to 80 %), heating time (0 to 4 h) and heating temperature (0 to 1400 oC) and the dependent variable was reduction in total aflatoxin. Design Expert was used in a combined D-optimal, quadratic x quadratic mixed process design to generate 28 runs for the experiment. The various complexes were screened against a stock solution of naturally contaminated peanuts with aflatoxin content of 456.3ppb in order to ascertain the adsorption capacity of the different alumina-silica complexes. The ANOVA and model fit test showed that aflatoxin adsorption by ASC is significant. All the non-heated samples of ASC showed percentage reduction of aflatoxin above 70 %. The micro graphical analysis of the samples of ASC also revealed the grains as having different size ranging from 154 μm to 490 μm. The predicted optimum conditions for the aflatoxin adsorption of ASC are combination of alumina and silica at a ratio of 32Al:68Si, heated at a temperature of 350 oC for 3 h.