Towards net-zero manufacture of chilled/refrigerated foods - the case of ready meals

食品工业是英国最大的制造部门，也是第四大工业能源用户。为了在2050年之前实现英国的零碳排放目标，对能源需求和/或温室气体排放热点采取行动至关重要。其中一个潜在的行动领域是食品冷链——冷冻、冷藏和冷藏食品的制造和分销是能源密集型的，通常涉及使用高gwp（全球变暖潜值）的制冷剂。在此背景下，该项目旨在确定那些食品制造场景，这些场景将导致向以冷藏食品（例如即食食品）为重点的净零食品供应链过渡的成功战略，并与Samworth兄弟公司合作。该项目将结合技术经济、环境和/或政策方面的综合方法，设计和评估脱碳解决方案，重点是比较不同的生产模式，即集中式生产与分布式生产，以特定的即食食品为例，冷藏/冷藏食品。这种方法是基于适当的模拟/优化和决策工具的开发和实施，为此需要高水平的工程和计算能力，加上足够的（生物）过程系统知识。

The Food Industry is the largest manufacture sector in the UK's and the fourthhighest industrial energy user. To contribute to the achievement of UK's zero-carbon emissions targets by 2050, it is critical to act on those hotspots for energydemand and/or GHG emissions. One of these potential areas of action is the foodcold chain - the manufacture and distribution of frozen, refrigerated and chilledfoods is energy intensive and often involves the use of high-GWP (GlobalWarming Potential) refrigerants.In this context, this project aims to identify those food manufacturing scenariosthat would lead to successful strategies for the transition to net-zero food supplychains focusing on chilled foods (e.g., ready meal foods), and working inpartnership with Samworth Brothers. The project will combine techno-economic,environmental and/or policy aspects in an integrated approach for the design andevaluation of decarbonisation solutions, focusing on the comparison of differentmanufacturing paradigms - i.e., centralized vs. distributed manufacture - forspecific ready meals, as exemplar of chilled/refrigerated foods. This approach isbased on the development and implementation of suitable simulation/optimisationand decision-making tools, for which a high level of engineering andcomputational competence, coupled with adequate knowledge of (bio)processsystems is desirable.