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相对较高的原材料。在当前的价值链中，有大量的洋葱废物（欧洲超过600万吨）目前仍处于开发状态。因此，大量的废物降低了洋葱供应链的经济效率，同时也增加了碳足迹和环境影响。高效的食品生产和农业原材料的全部使用为发展智能循环经济提供了大量机会。该提案旨在利用新的加工技术发展对洋葱支流的技术理解，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。目标1。绘制欧洲主要洋葱废弃物/支流的地图，包括对稳定策略、物流和运输的评估。2.定制当前的方法并探索新技术，以优化洋葱废物/侧流中功能性生物材料的提取，创建，稳定和应用3。了解洋葱纤维成分如何影响结构特性，以及如何通过适当的物理化学修饰（例如，通过水热处理，剪切活化等，和/或范围新技术）将结构特性最大化。主要技能/技术博士生将接受以下培训：分离科学与技术蔬菜废物流的生物转化（酶学/发酵）生物精炼概念，包括LCA建模一般食品化学/生物化学

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