​The Plant Lipid Biotechnology Lab (PLBL) headed by Prof. Zeev Wiesman located in the Department of Biotechnology Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. PLBL deals with research and development of plant lipids that are in high demand in the food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and bio-energy industries in the framework of Lipidomics. Research in the lab exploits advanced analytical chemical technologies such as: Low Field NMR (LF-NMR), LC-MS ,GC, GC-MS,MRI and MALDI-TOF/MS with focusing on the juncture of plant oils, biotechnology and industry. These technologies are applied in developing various non-destructive phyto-lipid diagnostic systems for fast fingerprinting of triacylglycerides, phytosterols, tocopherols and other plant components. PLBL has been studying the environmental aspects of olive, pomegranate and desert date oil production; specifically, the residue that remains after oil extraction which can be recycled and used as biodiesel, biogas fuels and fertilizer.
In recent years, PLBL has become intensively involved in novel advanced "Intelligent Clean Quality (ICQ)" studies of industrial plant lipids and environmental issues, with emphasis on prediction models for various industrial purposes. Two good examples of this ICQ approach are: 1) a combined LR NMR/advanced digital optical data collection and analysis tool for optimization of olive oil harvesting dates, and 2) a cost-effective protocol for utilization and recycling of olive oil organic waste materials into bio-energy. The non-destructive analytical tools available in the lab are applied in this novel ICQ field.
PLBL with prof. Zeev Weisman as principal investigator was involved into Medolico project - Mediterranean Cooperation in the Treatment and Valorisation of Olive Mill Wastewater (OMW) - together with Italy, Portugal, Cyprus and Jordan. The project seeks to prevent and reduce the environmental risk presented by Olive Mill Wastewater (OMW) by collaborating on the evaluation of the performance of various promising OMW treatment technologies and developing uniform treatment procedures according to the sought purpose (water for irrigation, recycling into the olive mill manufacturing process, etc.), which will then be pilot tested. There will be a further evaluation of the potential for valorization of the collected by-products so that a solution can be provided that sustainably protect the environment heritage of the Mediterranean regions while remaining cost-efficient for the olive mills. In the last decade PLBL research efforts were dedicated to the novel NMR spin energy relaxation graphics for a morphological/chemical structure study of oil-rich feedstock conversion by immobilized lipase into biofuels and combustion engine performance and nano-particle emission characteristics. The uniqueness of this approach is magnetic field bio-sensing graphical mapping of the feedstock’s different structural domains relevant to property relations by morphological-chemical phase graphs with a high resolution between domains and their interaction energies, using easily lab top-real time H1 LF-NMR. The 2D and 3D graphics generated by the H LF NMR energy relaxation technology of the different domains found in lipids and fatty acid oils and the variations from oil to oil as a function of composition can be seen by the number and distribution of peaks and it is an effective tool in characterizing complex materials containing fatty acids with alky chains saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated and how their morphology and size affect the oxidation process mechanisms.