Degredation of lignin based compounds in olive kernels

[beran]

Hello,

For my due research project in biology, I plan to work on biodegredation of lignin compounds present in olive kernels. I live in Turkey and we eat a lot of olive for the breakfast, I thought there should be some way to utilise olive kernel garbages and I found out that in the mediterranean regions of my country, people collect the pure kernels from the olive oil factories and use them as fuel through burning. Due to high lignin content of the kernel ( among the highest of all other organic materials) it gives a lot of heat energy and very minimal amount of greenhouse gases. After ı have done a research,I found that lignin containing organic compound can give rise to various kinds of other valuable chemical compounds if treated properly, and I decided to search out the degredation of lignin in olive kernels using white rot fungus, probably (Phanerochaete chyrsosporium ).I guess burning the kernels to obtain heat should not be the only way use their organic potential. But the challenge I face is forming a research question. I do this project for my Extended Essay in IB (International Baccalaureate) diploma programme and I need a research question to experiment on. I think comparing the effectiveness of lignin degredation by the fungus in black olive kernels and green olive kernels might be a good one because of different kinds of chemical treatments in green and black olive types prior to consumption slightly change the kernels' properties such as hardness, colour, acidity and maybe the fungus' efficiency of degradation will vary. The other option is comparing the effectiveness of lignin degredation in two types of olive kernels: first type is obtained from olives cultivated for its oil and extracted out prior to any chemical process in food industry thus very pure and the second type is the kernel obtained from table olives cultivated for consumption and experienced various chemical processes in the food factory.

I would be very pleased if you help me to choose which one to study with, or do you have any different research question suggestion for my topic? Also I need to design an experiment layout, the estimated technique, equipments, methods,etc. but I am not sure how to measure the rate of degredation by using simple highschool lab methods. I have carefully read the discussion on ( https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... =28&t=8008) , it helped a lot, but I got stuck on the point of finalizing my research question and propose it to my instructor. I need to submit a report explaining why to reseach that particular question and a glimpse of expected results: is it woth of experimenting, will there be any statistically essential difference,etc but I don't know where to look to find scientific info about how will white rot fungus behave on these different groups of kernels, basically the facts I need the find to make my hypothesis much more stronger and scientific.

Any recommendation is welcomed and thank you in advance.

[deleted-291782]

Hi Beran,

I agree; it seems that the main problem thus far is coming up with a set of specific research questions to ask for your project. I think one of the key questions you need to ask first is what types of products are you looking for following lignin degradation. There are also papers on PubMed that should be able to help you find more background information should you need it.

For example, see the link below for a review on lignin-degrading enzymes:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25649492

Either project that you have listed sounds like a good approach, but as I mentioned earlier, the main questions you will need to answer include what products do you want to measure and why, and also how do you think the impact of different treatments (related to how these olives will be used) affects the biodegradation. This will enable you to formulate a strong hypothesis. It also seems that you would likely need university-level equipment to perform such studies; especially looking at lignin degradation. Perhaps something like NMR spectroscopy to analyze the product breakdown. Let us know what other specific questions you have and we will be happy to help.