Continuous processing of fibrous plant-based meat structure

为了向消费者提供符合道德标准的植物性肉制品，制造过程必须是可持续的。广泛使用的螺杆挤出型工艺是能源密集型的，并且在纤维结构生成、脂质内含物和可持续植物蛋白成分方面受到限制。因此，有必要设计替代的、节能的工艺，提供必要的流动和结构化操作，以工业规模和更广泛的植物生物聚合物生产此类产品。提高我们创造分层排列纤维结构的能力将允许生产具有上级感官特性的产品（例如多汁性、嫩度、风味）。EngD项目将以持续的方式推进对纤维结构的理解，从而促进肉类类似物的生产。目的是开发一种新型的、可扩展的技术，用于在不同包合物水平下在脂肪相存在下制造纤维植物基材料。工程师候选人预计将利用一套研究工具，包括计算流体动力学（CFD），微观结构工程和工艺流变学。研究如何最大限度地减少生物资源的加工，同时仍然提供所需的产品质地也将进行。理想情况下，我们正在寻找一个候选人与第一学位在化学工程，或类似，只要他们提供了良好的基础，在流体力学和胶体科学。

To provide consumers with ethical plant-based meat products, it isintrinsic that manufacturing processes are sustainable. Widely usedscrew extrusion type processes are energy intensive, and are limitedin terms of fibrous structure generation, lipid inclusions andsustainable plant protein ingredients. Therefore, there is a need todesign alternative, energy efficient processes which provide thenecessary flow and structuring operations to produce such products atindustrial scale and from a wider range of plant biopolymers.Improving our ability to create hierarchical aligned fibre structureswill allow manufacture of products with superior sensory properties(e.g. juiciness, tenderness, flavour).The EngD project will advance the understanding of fibrous structurecreation for the production of meat analogues in a continuousmanner. The aim is to develop a novel, scalable technology for themanufacture of fibrous plant based materials in the presence of allipid phase at different inclusion levels. The EngD candidate isexpected to utilise a set of research tools including computationalfluid dynamics (CFD), microstructure engineering and processrheology. Research into minimising the processing of the bioresourcewhile still delivering the desired product texture will also be carriedout. Ideally, we are looking for a candidate with a first degree inChemical Engineering, or similar as long as they offer a goodfoundation in fluid mechanics and colloid science.