In traditional medicine Thymus serpyllum L. (wild thyme) herb represents a part of a large number of herbal medicinal formulations such as syrups, tinctures, infusions, teas, and decoctions. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in testing the biological properties of wild thyme, because the plant is a high-quality raw material, rich in essential oil and pharmacologically active polyphenolic compounds, which can be included in various formulations in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, food, and chemical industries. Wild thyme extracts and essential oil have shown significant nitric oxide, ABTS and DPPH radicals scavenging potential, ferrous ion chelating property, reducing activity and ability to inhibit peroxidation of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), proteins and lipids. Wild thyme extracts exerted antibacterial activity against Bacillus cereus, Enterococcus faecalis, Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica, Yersinia enterocolitica, as well as Lactic acid bacteria. Wild thyme essential oil has shown antibacterial potential against E. coli, L. monocytogenes, P. aeruginosa, S. enteritidis, S. aureus, Streptococcus salivariu, S. mutans, S. sanguinis, S. pyogenes, E. feacalis, B. cereus, B. subtilis, B. pumilis, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Proteus mirabilis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella choleraesuis, and Salmonella poona. T. serpyllum extract possesses antifungal activity against Fusarium solani, F. moniliforme, Aspergillus flavus, Microsporum canis, Alternaria species, Candida albicans, and C. glabarata. The essential oil efficiently inhibited the growth of C. albicans, C. glabrata and Aspergillus fungi. Depending on the concentration, wild thyme extract significantly relaxed spontaneous contractions, as well as acetylcholine-, potassium chloride-, barium chlorideand calcium chloride-induced contractions of the isolated rat ileum. The extract significantly reduced the expression of the inducible enzyme cyclooxygenase-2 and inhibited acetylcholinesterase, myeloperoxidase and α-glucosidase activity. T. serpyllum extract has shown cytotoxic activity on human breast cancer cell lines, while essential oil has shown the antitumor potential in human cell lung cancer, colon, cervical, hepatocellular, prostate, and breast adeno-carcinoma.

The grinding technique evolved along with the development of mankind and today it has become a real industry. The need to diversify flour assortments has raised the performance of the milling industry and, more than that, the products obtained are of superior quality due to the new machines and techniques for conditioning and grinding. By conditioning we mean the treatment of wheat with water or water and heat. It can be said that, among the technological operations of preparing wheat for mills, conditioning is the one that most influences the technological process of mills, the degree of extraction, the content of mineral substances of the flour, the separation of the germs and implicitly the baking properties of the flour. The essential parameters taken into account in this stage are the moisture content and the degree of hardness of the wheat grain. When determining the degree of extraction, the hectoliter weight has the major impact. Normally, an extraction of over 95% is sought when we talk about wholemeal flours. With the latest generation machines and their control with the help of new technology, 100% wholemeal wheat flours are obtained. The degree of extraction also influences the physico-chemical parameters of the flour and, of course, the ash content. Enzymatic activity of flour depends on the degree of extraction,  and wholemeal flour is richer in enzymes than white flour. This difference is primarily due to the distribution of non-uniform enzymes in the wheat grain, starting from the core of the wheat grain to its periphery. Wholemeal flour contains significant amounts of bran and germs – the finer the bran, the darker the color of the flour – so it is important that the bran particles are larger and rarer for the flour obtained from the endosperm to express its characteristics in a meaningful way in the finished product.

In this paper a mathematical model for the soda ash drying process in a pneumatic dryer was presented. The model presents a macroscopic aspect of the drying process, for a two-phase, gas-solid system. The model is based on mass and heat transfer between the gas phase and the particle, movement of air and particles through the system, and geometric characteristics of the drying system (fan, air heater, pneumatic dryer, and cyclone). The effects of the process parameters, such as airflow, inlet air temperature, and relative humidity, temperature at the inlet of the dryer, etc., have been studied by solving the model. Also, the model was tested for different values of the capacity of wet soda and different values of the operating parameters of the heating medium. The model was implemented in MATLAB and solved with a nonlinear equations solver. Data obtained by the model were compared with industrial pneumatic dryer data for drying wet soda ash particles with good agreement.