Research
The Sustainable Food Processing group focuses on:
• Multi-indicator sustainability assessment, advanced method development, and application for food systems analysis to generate system understanding and identify impactful actions
• Microbial ecosystem analysis and control of microalgae and insect systems during upstream processes
• Structure-Process-Property principles and emerging processing for disintegration, high quality structuring, gentle stabilization, and release of functional proteins and high value-added ingredients.
• Quantify nutritional and health impacts of our food innovations in vitro in a broader scope, and to link these in vitro results to targeted in vivo analyses via collaboration within the ETH Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health IFNH.
Unique extrusion and pulsed electrical field (PEF) pilot plants with lab/pilot scale are available. We operate 16 mm, 30 mm and 42 mm double screw extrusion systems with and without special cooling dies, inline process controls, and gas injections. Our batch/continuous nano- and microsecond PEF units reach pulse widths from 2 ns to 100 μs and pulse amplitudes up to 15 kV. The group applies a continuous micro process engineering platform for thermal and mechanical process development in lab scale, including advanced inline and online process control. Ultra and micro filtration enables sufficient fractionation and purification. New algae and insect cultivation and downstream processing systems are installed and under continuous development. Together with Eawag we operate a lab scale black soldier fly larvae colony. Advanced double flat panel reactors (2 x Algaemist plus 2 x 2 L), a 5 L fermenter and a pilot scale photobioreactor (25 L) for microalgae cultivation are installed. Flexible microbial labs with BSL 1 and 2 are available. Further equipment development on batch (up to 1000 MPa) and continuous ultra high pressure treatment (up to 450 MPa), electroporation for cell disintegration, stress and food preservation, as well as algae reactor optimization, is ongoing.
- chevron_right Multi-indicator Sustainability Assessment
- chevron_right Life Cycle Assessment
- chevron_right Flagship Project Novel Proteins for Food and Feed
- chevron_right Urban Microalgae-Based Protein Production project at the Singapore-ETH Centre
- chevron_right Insect Sustainability and Processing
- chevron_right Black Soldier Fly Larvae Treatment
- chevron_right Microalgae Biorefinery
- chevron_right Comprehensive PEF System Analysis and Microalgae Applications
- chevron_right Micro Process Engineering
- chevron_right Bacterial Spore Mechanisms
- chevron_right High Pressure Thermal Sterilization
- chevron_right Low Energy Electron Beam
The ETH Zurich World Food System Center Flagship Project Novel Proteins for Food and Feed aims to develop food innovations to provide new sources of sustainable and nutritious protein for a growing world population.
Find out more about this World Food System Center Flagship Project here:
https://worldfoodsystem.ethz.ch/research/flagship-projects/NovelProteins.html