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.
