1. Home
  2. About us
  3. People
  4. Faculty & Staff
  5. Hiroshi NABETANI

Hiroshi NABETANI

Hiroshi NABETANI, Professor

The National Agriculture and Food Research Organization
Project Promotion Section, Planning and Management Division

http://www.naro.affrc.go.jp/english/index.html

>>EMAIL

Professional Experience & Education

2009: Managing Director, Planning and Project Promotion Division, Food Research Institute, the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization
2006: Unit Leader, Reaction and Separation Engineering Unit, Food Engineering Division, Food Research Institute, the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization
2002: Senior Researcher, Reaction and Separation Engineering Laboratory, Food Research Institute, the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization
2000: Assistant Division Chief, International Research Division, the Secretariat of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Research Council, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan
1999: Senior Specialist, the Secretariat of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Research Council, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan
1993: Ph.D., in Engineering
1984: The National Food Research Institute, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan
1984: B.S., Department of Agricultural Engineering, the University of Tokyo

 

Discipline(s)

Food Engineering, Membrane Separation Engineering, Chemical Reaction Engineering

Research interests

We are taking an engineering approach to the study of separation technology, responsive technology, and measurement technology with the objective of contributing to the maintenance and promotion of health through food, securing the safety and reliability of food, and creating a sustainable society based on the effective use of food-related resources.

Separation technology is involved with the elucidation of the separation characteristics and the fouling mechanism when applied to liquid food products. The specific object is membrane separation technology for reverse osmosis, nano-filtration, and ultrafiltration, which is now attracting attention as an energy-saving, mild food product separation technology. In addition, we are attempting to create a new and efficient membrane separation system based on these results.

In the field of responsive technology, we are developing a new device capable of producing biodiesel fuel using no catalysts by the continuous injection of methanol vapor under normal pressure into oils. We are conducting basic research into the methyl esterification of oils. We are also conducting research into the measurement and evaluation of the states during different chemical reactions using extremely weak light. The results will be incorporated as the basis for the development of new measurement technology that will contribute to securing the reliability of food.

Study example

  • Membrane separation technology
    We have developed a new technology for the refinement of antioxidative dipeptides and anserine-carnosine at optional purity using the membrane separation technology for chicken extract (ultrafiltration and nano-filtration), and ion-exchange chromatography. There is a diversity to the active oxygen generated in organisms, and each anti-oxidant agent acts only on a specific active oxygen species. The peptide anserine-carnosine has a strong anti-oxidative effect on the CIO type, while polyphenols derived from plants, carotenoids and caffeic acid analogs have a strong anti-oxidative effect on OH type, and vitamin C has a strong anti-oxidative effect on ONOO type. This demonstrates that the appropriate distribution of food materials containing these substances will enable improvements in the preparation of anti-oxidative food products.
  • Biodiesel fuel production
    The only production method of commercialized biodiesel fuel is the conversion into fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) by the alcoholysis of plant oil using alkali catalysts. The effective use of the byproduct glycerin, however, requires a purification process that removes the alkali catalysts. This is an obstacle to cost reduction.
    We are conducting basic research into the methyl esterification of oils and the development of a new device that can produce FAME without the use of a catalyst (the superheated methanol vapor method). The refinement of the byproduct glycerin and the cleaning of the reactive products are unnecessary, so reduced production costs are anticipated.
  • The evaluation of food products using weak light measurement
    Weak light is emitted from food materials in conjunction with chemical reactions. Detecting this weak light enables the measurement of the quality of the sample materials. Our objective is to easily detect the degree of degradation and anti-oxidation, the primary indicators of food material quality, without the requirement of a complex chemical analysis.
    In addition, we are also conducting research into the rapid discrimination of the irradiation history of food materials by the application of light measurement.

Primary papers

  1. Hiroshi Nabetani, Nobuya Yanauchi, Masayuki Mizuno ; The development of separation and refinement technology for anti-oxidizing dipeptides from waste chicken carcasses, and a method for evaluating anti-oxidative activity, The Journal of the Japan Society for Food Engineering, 7,15-23 (2006)
  2. Koji Yamane, Kiyoshi Kawasaki, Takeo Aoki, Kiyoshi Osakada, Hiroshi Nabetani ; Biodiesel Fuel Production by No-Catalyzed Transesterification and Its Engine Performance, Collection of Papers for the Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan, Vol.37, No.6, 103-108(2006)
  3. Joelianingsih, A. H. Tambunan, H. Nabetani, Y. Sagara, K. Abdullah; Development of Biodiesel Production Process as a Biofuel, Agricultural Engineering Journal, 20 (3),205-216 (2006)
  4. Hiroshi Nabetani, Susumu Kamiya, Satoshi Iwamoto, Masashi Hagiwara, Mitsutoshi Nakajima ; The optimization of the ethanol concentration process using membrane separation technology, The Journal of the Japan Society for Food Engineering, 8, 1-10(2007)
  5. R. Yamazaki, S. Iwamoto, H. Nabetani, K. Osakada, O. Miyawaki, Y. Sagara; Noncatalytic Alcoholysis of Oils for Biodiesel Fuel Production by a Semi-batch Process, Japan Journal of Food Engineering , 8(1),11-19(2007)
  6. Nobuya Yanauchi, Shigenobu Shioya, Joosh Baljinnyam, Masashi Hagiwara, Hiroshi Nabetani, Mitsutoshi Nakajima ; The extraction, refinement, and use of functional dipeptides from chicken extract, The Journal of the Membrane Society of Japan , 32(4),197-202(2007)
  7. Joelianingsih, Hiroshi Nabetani, Shoji Hagiwara, Yasuyuki Sagara, Tatang H. Doerawidjaya, Armansyah H. Tambunan, Kamaruddin Abdullah; Performance of a bubble column reactor for the non-catalytic methyl esterification of free fatty acids at atmospheric pressure, Journal of Chemical Engineering of Japan, 40(9),780-785(2007)
  8. Soni S. Wirawan, Armansyah H. Tambunan, Martin Djamin, Hiroshi Nabetani; Validation of measured blend biodiesel-mineral diesel specification by using a simple calculation method, Agricultural Engineering Journal, 21(3),295-306(2007)
  9. Joelianingsih, Hitoshi Maeda, Shoji Hagiwara, Hiroshi Nabetani, Yasuyuki Sagara, Tatang H. Soerawidjaya, Armansyah H. Tambunan, Kamaruddin Abdullah; Biodiesel fuels from palm oil via the non-catalytic transesterification in a bubble column reactor at atmospheric pressure : a kinetic study, Renewable Energy, 33(7),1629-1636(2008)
  10. Soni Solistia Wirawan, Armansyah H. Tambunan, Martin Djamin, Hiroshi Nabetani; The effect of palm biodiesel fuel on the performance and emission of the automotive diesel engine, Agricultural Eigineering International: the CIGR Ejournal, 10(Manuscript EE 07 005),1-13(2008)
  11. Nobuya Yanai, Shigenobu Shiotani, Shoji Hagiwara, Hiroshi Nabetani, Mitsutoshi Nakajima; Antioxidant combination inhibits reactive oxygen species mediated damage, Bioscience, Biotechnology and Biochemistry, 72(12),3100-3106(2008)
  12. Takashi Kuroiwa, Hiroshi Izuta, Hiroshi Nabetani, Mitutoshi Nakajima, Seigo Sato, Sukekuni Mukataka, Sosaku Ichikawa; Selective and stable production of physiologically active chitosan oligosaccharides using an enzymatic membrane bioreactor, Process Biochemistry, 44(3),283-287(2009)
  13. Atsushi MIYAGI, Hiroshi NABETANI and Mitsutoshi NAKAJIMA; Reduction in Oxidation Index Value of Fish Oils Using Hydrophobic Nonporous Denser Membrane Process, Food Science and Technology Research, 15(3),245-248(2009)
  14. H. Nabetani, M. Nakajima, S. Hagiwara, A. Watanabe, S. Nakao, and S. Kimura; Solute adsorption and gel layer formation during ultrafiltration of ovalbumin, Food Science and Technology Research, 15(3),225-232(2009)
  15. Takehiro Sugiyama, Kaori Fujita, Mizuki Tuta, Junichi Sugiyama, Mario Shibata, Mito Kokawa, Tetsuya Araki, Hiroshi Nabetani, Yasuyuki Sagara ; An Estimation of the Mixture Proportion of Soba Flour and Wheat Flour Using the Excitation-Emission Fluorescence Matrix, The Journal of the Japanese Society for Food Science and Technology, 57(6),238-242(2010)
  16. Mario Shibata, Junichi Sugiyama, Mizuki Tuta, Kaori Fujita, Takehiro Sugiyama, Mito Kokawa, Tetsuya Araki, Hiroshi Nabetani, Yasuyuki Sagara ; The Development of Measurement Methods for the Cellular Structure of Bread Using a Scanner, The Journal of the Japanese Society for Food Science and Technology, 57(6), 243-250(2010)
  17. Takehiro Sugiyama, Junichi Sugiyama, Mizuki Tsuta, Kaori Fujita, Mario Shibata, Mito Kokawa, Tetsuya Araki, Hiroshi Nabetani, Yasuyuki Sagara; NIR spectral imaging with discriminant analysis for detecting foreign materials among blueberries, Journal of Food Engineering, 51(3), 244-252(2010)
  18. Mario Shibata, Junichi Sugiyama, Mizuki Tsuta, Kaori Fujita, Takehiro Sugiyama, Mito Kokawa, Tetsuya Araki, Hiroshi Nabetani, Yasuyuki Sagara ; The Development of a Method for Quantifying the Relationship between the Viscoelasticity and the Cellular Structure of Bread, The Journal of the Japanese Society for Food Science and Technology, 57(7),296-303(2010)
  19. Atsushi Miyagi, Hiroshi Nabetani, Rangaswamy Subramanian; Purification of crude fatty acids using a PDMS-based composite membrane , Separation and Purification Technology, 77,80-86(2010)
  20. Sarode Manjula, Hiroshi Nabetani, Rangaswamy Subramanian; Flux behavior in a hydrophobic dense membrane with undiluted and hexane-diluted vegetable oils, Journal of Membrane Science, 366, 43-47(2010)