Anna Angela Barba - TPP Group

Associate Professor SSD ING-IND 25 (DIFARMA)

+39.089.969240

Academic Curriculum

Dr. Anna Angela Barba got her Laurea in Chemical Engineering, summa cum laude, in May 1997, then she gained the Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering in 2002. Starting from 1999 she had a CNR fellowship (one year), a post-doctoral grant (2002-2004) and worked at some research projects as external consultant at the Department of Chemical and Food Engineering, faculty of Engineering, University of Salerno.
In February 2005 she obtained a position as assistant professor in Chemical Plants at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, which she joined in October 2005.
She had, since a.y. 2005/2006, the cathedra of Pharmaceutical Industrial Plants. She also had and has didactic activity in post-degree corse. She is a member of the faculty board of the doctorate of research in Chemical Engineering.
The research activities of dr. Barba, developed mainly at the University of Salerno, are developed in the field of power applications of electromagnetic field to the development of innovative methodologies and equipments for microwave assisted heating. From October 2002 to March 2003 she worked as post-doc research fellow at the Technical University of Eindhoven, TUE (NL) – Department of Electrical Engineering / Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry – where was involved in research activities on pulsed plasma.
Recently, dr. Barba addressed her research activities to the transfer of Chemical Engineering processes and methods to pharmaceutical productions. Her activities, developed in different scientific collaborations and characterized by experimental and modeling actions, are based on the use of electromagnetic energy (microwaves region) in heating intensified processes (cooking, drying, blanching, curing) of vegetal matrices and pharmaceutical ingredients. Non-conventional analytic procedures are also developed to study the dielectric behavior of materials (nanometallic powders, composite, biopolymeric hydrogels).
Dr. Anna Angela Barba was scientific responsible of research projects funded bybudget Ateneo and she was involved and is currently involved in different financed projects.

She is co-authors of many publications: papers on international and national journals, communications to international and national conferences, chapters in books/monographs.

Publications

2024

Caputo, Lucia; Amato, Giuseppe; de Bartolomeis, Pietro; Martino, Laura De; Manna, Francesco; Nazzaro, Filomena; Feo, Vincenzo De; Barba, Anna Angela

Impact of drying methods on the yield and chemistry of Origanum vulgare L. essential oil Journal Article

In: Scientific Reports, vol. 12, no. 3845, 2024, ISBN: 20452322.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: essential oil, thymol, vegetable oil

@article{Caputo2024,

title = {Impact of drying methods on the yield and chemistry of Origanum vulgare L. essential oil},

author = {Lucia Caputo and Giuseppe Amato and Pietro de Bartolomeis and Laura De Martino and Francesco Manna and Filomena Nazzaro and Vincenzo De Feo and Anna Angela Barba },

url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85126079508\&doi=10.1038%2fs41598-022-07841-w\&partnerID=40\&md5=6f157481597aad9b9c4665e5f90eeff9},

doi = {10.1038/s41598-022-07841-w},

isbn = {20452322},

year  = {2024},

date = {2024-12-01},

journal = {Scientific Reports},

volume = {12},

number = {3845},

abstract = {Oregano (Origanum vulgare L.) is mainly cultivated, both as fresh and dried herb, for several purposes, such as ailments, drugs, and spices. To evaluate the influence of some drying methods on the chemical composition of the essential oil of oregano, its aerial parts were dehydrated by convective drying techniques (shade, static oven), microwave-assisted heating (three different treatments) and osmotic treatment. The oils were analyzed by GC-FID and GC\textendashMS. The highest essential oil yield was achieved from microwave and shade drying methods. In total, 39 components were found, with carvacrol (ranging from 56.2 to 81.4%) being the main constituent; other compounds present in lower amounts were p-cymene (1.6\textendash17.7%), γ-terpinene (0.8\textendash14.2%), α-pinene (0.1\textendash2.1%), thymol methyl ether (0.4\textendash1.8%) and thimoquinone (0.5\textendash3.5%). The essential oil yields varied among the different treatments as well as the relative compositions. The percentages of p-cymene, γ-terpinene and α-pinene decreased significantly in the dried sample compared with the fresh sample; on the other hand, carvacrol, isoborneol and linalool increased significantly in the dried materials. The choice of the drying method for obtaining the essential oil therefore appears crucial not only in relation to the higher yield but also and above all in reference to the percentage presence of components that can direct the essential oil toward an appropriate use.},

keywords = {essential oil, thymol, vegetable oil},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

2022

Martino, Laura De; Caputo, Lucia; Amato, Giuseppe; Iannone, Marco; Barba, Anna Angela; Feo, Vincenzo De

Postharvest Microwave Drying of Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.): The Influence of Treatments on the Quality of Dried Products Journal Article

In: Foods, vol. 11, no. 1029, 2022, ISBN: 23048158.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: drying methods, essential oil, microwave heating, Ocimum basilicum L, process sustainability

@article{Martino}2022,

title = {Postharvest Microwave Drying of Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.): The Influence of Treatments on the Quality of Dried Products},

author = {Laura {De Martino} and Lucia Caputo and Giuseppe Amato and Marco Iannone and Anna Angela Barba and Vincenzo {De Feo}},

url = {https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85128079847\&doi=10.3390%2ffoods11071029\&origin=inward\&txGid=638d510cd273b4bd45db2f3643c30b49},

doi = {10.3390/foods11071029},

isbn = {23048158},

year  = {2022},

date = {2022-04-01},

journal = {Foods},

volume = {11},

number = {1029},

abstract = {Edible herbs are widely used in the human diet due to their pleasant flavors and countless health benefits associated with their components having, mainly, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory therapeutic functions. Since herbs are highly perishable materials because of their high water content, to guarantee products are safe and stable over time, it is necessary that they undergo stabilization operations. The application of microwave-assisted drying, a promising technique in terms of process sustainability, for the stabilization of the aromatic herb, Ocimum basilicum L., was investigated. The activities were carried out by applying different operating conditions in order to evaluate the impact of the time/temperature combination on the final quality of dried basil. The latter was investigated via the chemical characterization of extracted essential oils and tissue damages. Conventional convective processes were also applied to perform comparisons between dried basil products both under production and the quality preservation points of view. Results showed that microwave heating is suitable as a drying method, as expected, due to the well-known interaction between vegetable tissue (rich in water) and the electromagnetic field; and that drying methods have a different influence on the chemical composition of the essential oils extracted from dried products, in terms of the number (ranging from 41 to 18 components in different dried samples) and percentage (until 67% in linalool and 21% in α-trans-bergamotene in different dried samples) of its’ constituents. },

keywords = {drying methods, essential oil, microwave heating, Ocimum basilicum L, process sustainability},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}