Reprocessing Under-Utilised Onion Waste

在蔬菜中，洋葱是消费量第二大的作物，为食品工业提供了价值较高的原料。在当前的价值链中有大量的洋葱废物（欧洲有600万吨），目前仍未得到充分利用。因此，大量的浪费降低了洋葱供应链的经济效率，同时也增加了碳足迹和对环境的影响。充分利用农业原料的高效粮食生产为发展智能循环经济提供了丰富的机会。本提案旨在利用新工艺技术开发对洋葱侧流的技术理解，以创造结构成分和天然风味，并提高农业食品部门的可持续性，从而为食品部门创造高经济价值。绘制横跨欧洲的主要洋葱废弃物/侧流地图，包括对稳定战略、物流和运输的评估。调整现有方法并探索新技术，以优化从洋葱废物/侧流中提取、创造、稳定和应用功能生物材料3。了解洋葱纤维成分对结构特性的影响，并通过适当的物理化学修饰（如水热处理、剪切活化等）和/或采用新技术来最大化洋葱纤维的结构特性。主要技能/技术博士生将接受分离科学技术、植物废物流的生物转化（酶学/发酵）、生物精炼厂概念（包括LCA建模）、一般食品化学/生物化学等方面的培训

Among vegetables, onion is the second most widely consumed crop, providing a relatively high value raw material for food industries. There are very large quantities of onion waste across current value chain (>6M tons in the Europe) which currently remain under exploited. The substantial amount of waste thus reduces the economic efficiency of the onion supply chain while also increasing the carbon footprint and environmental impact. The efficient food production with total usage of agricultural raw materials offers a wealth of opportunities for developing a smart circular economy. This proposal aims to develop technical understanding towards valorising onion side-streams using novel process technologies in order to create structuring ingredients and natural flavours, and to improve sustainability of the agro-food sector, thereby creating high economic value for the food sector.Objectives1. Map key onion waste/side streams across Europe, including an evaluation of stabilisation strategies, logistics and transport.2. Tailor current methods and explore novel technologies for optimising the extraction, creation, stabilisation and application of functional biomaterials from onion waste/side streams3. Understand how structuring properties are affected by onion fibre composition and can be maximized via suitable physicochemical modifications (e.g. via hydrothermal treatment, shear activation, etc, and/or scope new technologies)Major Skills/Techniques PhD student will be trained onSeparation science & technologyBiotransformation of vegetable waste stream (enzymology/fermentation)Bio-refinery concept including LCA modellingGeneral food chemistry/biochemistry