a Emulsions stabilized by soft whey protein microgel particles have gained research interest due to their combined advantages of biocompatibility and high degree of resistance to coalescence. We designed Pickering oil-in-water emulsions using whey protein microgels using a facile route of heat-set gel formation followed by mechanical shear and studied the influence of heat treatment on emulsions stabilized by these particles. The aim of this study was to compare the barrier properties of the microgel particles and heat-treated fused microgel particles at the oil-water interface in delaying the digestion of the emulsified lipids using an in vitro digestion model. A combination of transmission electron microscopy and surface coverage measurements revealed increased coverage of heat-treated microgel particles at the interface. The heatinduced microgel particle aggregation and, therefore, a fused network at the oil-water interface, was more beneficial to delay the rate of digestion in presence of pure lipase and bile salts as compared to that of intact whey protein microgel particles, as shown by measurements of zeta potential and free fatty acid release, plus theoretical calculations. However, simulated gastric digestion with pepsin impacted significantly on such barrier effects, due to the proteolysis of the particle network at the interface irrespective of the heat treatment, as visualized using sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacryl amide gel electrophoresis measurements.

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Solar pyrolysis of cotton stalk was carried out in a molten salt reactor heated by 4 kW solar simulator. The effects of pyrolysis temperature and mass ratio of molten salt to biomass on pyrolysis products properties were investigated. The use of molten salt as pyrolysis media increased gas yield. At 850 C, the gas yield (mainly of CO and H 2) continued to rise from 41.35 wt% to 82.57 wt% when mass ratio of molten salt to cotton stalk increased from 0 to 10. Pyrolysis in molten salt significantly decreased bio-oil acids and phenols, while increased aromatics among pyrolysis temperature range of 450e850 C. There was positive correlation between the increased content of aromatics and mass ratio of molten salt to cotton stalk (from 0.5 to 10). The bio-char carbon content showed a general decreasing trend while oxygen, BET surface area and pore volume increased with using molten salt as pyrolysis media. Bio-char obtained from CS1MS5 pyrolysis at 850 C had the highest BET surface area of 972.57 m 2 /g and the biggest total pore volume of 0.6203 cm 3 /g. High quality pyrolysis products with more uniform chemistry suggest catalytic reactions occur inside the solar reactor due to the intermediates degradation with molten salt.