Sustainable Food Process Engineering

The Sustainable Food Process Engineering Group deals with processes and technologies to improve sustainability of food production. This includes processing strategies for novel food raw materials, process design and optimization considering treatment efficacy and homogeneity, as well as the exploration of sidestream valorization strategies, among others.

For this purose, the Sustainable Food Process Engineering Group has two distinct focus areas, dealing with the redesign of food processing chains as well as novel technologies for food and bio processing. 

Novel Technologies for Food and Bio Processing (Felix Schottroff)

• Intensification of fermentation processes in food and biotechnology. This includes upstream processing with a special focus on the exploration of mild Pulsed Electric Fields (PEF) stresses for microbial growth and productivity enhancement. Moreover, PEF in downstream processing is investigated for the selective release of valuable compounds from microbial cells without the need for a full destruction of the cells, in ideal cases even with preserved viability.
• Process design and optimization. Here, a particular focus is the design and optimization of continuous treatment chambers for PEF and Ohmic heating applications, in order to improve treatment homogeneity and to enable novel applications for these electrotechnologies.
• Preservation and production hygiene. This includes research on inactivation of vegetative microorganisms as well as bacterial endospores, i.e. pasteurization and sterilization using conventional thermal technologies as well as novel and non-thermal technologies. Moreover, the topics of cleaning and disinfection as well as hygienic design are investigated. Here, as close collaboration with the European Hygienic Engineering and Design Group (EHEDG) is established.

Redesign of Food Processing Chains (George Dimopoulos)

• Food processing side stream valorization and novel formulations. Obtaining materials from food processing side streams offers great potential of reintroducing valuable ingredients back into the food chain. In the spirit of a circular economy, cascade valorization lies in the center of the concept: material flows downstream a tiered cascade where high added value materials are obtained along the way.
• Novel food processing strategies. Redesigning processing pathways involves modifying or replacing existing concepts towards more efficient and sustainable processes. Nonthermal processing such as Pulsed Electric Fields (PEF) as well as High Pressure Processing (HPP) and novel thermal processes such as Ohmic Heating (OH) are being investigated in this context.