Membrane bioreactors relieve wastewater management

Large quantities of wastewater are produced as a by-product of food production. Its purification leads to a high volume of sewage sludge, which represents an economic burden for the dairy and meat industry. The use of a special biotechnological active ingredient composition reduces the amount of sludge and noticeably increases the cleaning performance. In the field of municipal sewage treatment plants, the use of the composition, which causes the formation of microscopic clusters of microorganisms, has already proven itself. The EU research project WASTEred is now to adapt this application to the factors in the food industry.

Bremerhaven, August 2009. The production of food and beverages is characterized by a high volume of waste water. The effort and costs for wastewater treatment have steadily increased in recent years. Therefore, the producers are not only concerned with the quality and customer acceptance of the final product, but increasingly also with wastewater management, which is now a significant cost factor for many companies.

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The German Institute of Food Technology (DIL) eV, Quakenbrück, together with the Institute for Food Quality and Safety of the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover (TiHo) and small and medium-sized companies in the meat industry are exploring new possibilities for the sustainable use of slaughter by-products, especially slaughter animal blood.

In Germany, about 150 million liters of carcass blood are produced each year, which are usually disposed of with great difficulty. Using the valuable, protein and iron-rich recyclable material as food would be desirable, especially from an ethical point of view and with a view to dwindling raw materials for a growing world population. Using the ELCRACK® non-thermal degermination process developed at the DIL, new processing and utilization strategies are to be developed for use in the production of meat products and sustainable use of the raw material.

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On the 01. May 2009 has officially launched the European Network of Excellence "High Tech Europe". This initiative, currently comprising 22 European research organizations, industry associations and companies, is coordinated by the German Institute of Food Technology (DIL) based in Quakenbrück. The network is part of the 7. EU Framework Program.

The aim of this cooperation is to make innovative knowledge - in particular the latest findings in biotechnology, nanotechnology and information and communications technology - available to small and medium-sized companies in the food industry, thus strengthening them for global competition.

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In Europe, farmers and growers often have their processing waste disposed of for a fee. Thereby a big energy potential is lost. In order to facilitate access to meaningful information on the production of biogas and case-specific calculations, ttz Bremerhaven, together with companies, operators of biogas plants, research partners and associations, has created a multifunctional platform and flexible calculation models in the Agrobiogas project. The follow-up project FARMAGAS will now also bring this information to the under-represented in biogas production new EU countries.

A sustainable and rewarding method for the production of biogas is characterized by various factors and requires process know-how - substrate, implementation and result must be in balance. Through targeted knowledge transfer, this should be done in 7. Research Framework Program of the EU-funded FARMAGAS project to promote the spread of anaerobic digestion of agricultural residues in Eastern Europe. Biogas profile, pH and the regional availability of resources determine the choice of substrate. Freely available software facilitates the smooth coordination of these factors. Because the data was collected through hands-on testing, it provides meaningful recommendations to potential users. Decision-making can be facilitated by action guidelines and an investment calculation. These materials were developed in the Agrobiogas project, which ensured know-how transfer through training measures in the participating EU countries.

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Researchers at the University of Technology Sydney are resurrecting a highly efficient 1970 air conditioning technology in Australia. It has the potential to save large amounts of energy.

The team around John Dartnell at the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology relies in his work on the process of so-called indirect evaporative cooling. Originally, this technology was developed by Don Pescod, scientist of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO). It was mainly used for cooling telephone exchanges in remote areas. However, limited commercialization and development in the 1980 years and the changing telecommunications technology brought a temporary end to Pescod's development.

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At the Fraunhofer IGB, a drying process was developed that dries with superheated steam instead of hot air. Potato chips, cat food or mineral raw materials can be dried much faster, gentler and with lower energy input than before.

Potato chips, pumpkin seeds and apple chips, dry food for dogs and cats, but also sludges or building materials must be dried before they are processed or packaged and find their way through the trade to the consumer. Usually is dried with hot air. This takes a long time, requires large drying systems and consumes a lot of energy. Often so much energy that the drying step up to more than 90 makes up one percent of the energy requirement of the entire production chain.

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Exhibition of Meat Research

16 lectures in three thematic areas and an international workshop to safeguard the food chain "Meat" provided the meat experts, the 5. to 7. May 2009 to 44. Kulmbacher Week of the Max Rubner Institute (MRI) had traveled to the latest results of meat research.

Beside the national view also from russian and serbian control room the topic area "slaughtering and processing technology" was presented. Veterinarian Matthias Moje from MRI-Kulmbach presented the concept of using "6-Axis Standard Industrial Robots", which has been in use for four years, extensively. The concept has proven itself, even if no final assessment can be made from a slaughter hygiene point of view, for industrial pig slaughtering, the expert judged. Attempts by researchers of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences to extract flavorings from spices with the help of carbon dioxide also led to interesting results: Dina Trifonova, from the All-Russian Research Institute of Meat Industry - VM Gorbatov, Moscow stated that here not only for the food sector, but also in the field of cosmetics and medicine to open up great potential.

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Summary of a presentation of 44. Kulmbacher week 2009

The production of high-quality cured cured products, including beef and sheep, has a long tradition in the mountainous region of Zlatibor in south-western Serbia. Raw cured beef and sheep are limited to a few specialties in the Western European market. Therefore, a closer look at these Serbian products should pay off if they could enrich the local offer.

Beef and sheep ham and the specialty "Stelja" (made from whole, boneless, unfolded sheep carcasses) are made according to traditional methods. After dry / wet pickling in containers (in some cases only with common salt), watering and drying, 15 through 20 are continuously smoked over beech wood for a controlled period of time, with no controlled climatic conditions. This results in relatively dark, more dried products. Sheep ham from the leg (n = 9), shoulder (n = 1) and ribs (with back muscles) of "Stelja" (n = 10) and beef ham from roast beef (n = 2) and tail roll (n = 5) were examined , In addition to physical parameters (pH, aw value), the main constituents water, fat, protein, ash, as well as curing agents (NaCl, NO2, NO3), fat indices (peroxide number, acid number), fatty acid patterns and benzo (a) pyrene were determined. A sensory examination was carried out according to the DLG 5 dot scheme.

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Decision support for a sustainable economy - The consequences of one's own actions for the climate and the environment should become more measurable

Everyone is talking about climate change and the concept of sustainability has become an important criterion in economic planning. More and more consumers want to know what contribution products make to climate protection. One measure of this is the "carbon footprint," a term that first came to the UK, where the first retail chains began to identify the "CO2 footprint" on their sales packaging. He should inform about the extent to which a product pollutes the climate. It is expressed as the sum of the CO2 emissions that arise along the entire production chain, from the production of raw materials and the manufacture of the product through trade, delivery and use to disposal or recycling, and which must therefore be reliably determined. Emissions of, for example, methane or nitrous oxide are converted into corresponding equivalents of the most important greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide.

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Greater energy efficiency in the food industry through optimal interaction of system components

In November 2008 was presented in London the current World Energy Report of the International Energy Agency (IEA). It proves again that climate change, increasing energy demand and limited fossil fuels are the key challenges of our time. Many industrial companies are already trading in large and small steps. For example, Tetra Pak, the world's largest producer of beverage cartons, has set itself the goal of reducing its CO2 output by 2010 percent compared with 10 worldwide, despite rising production figures worldwide, to 2005. For this, the company relies on the consistent increase in energy efficiency. In addition, within the next few years additional production sites are to be converted to renewable energies such as wind, water or solar energy. The two production plants in Limburg and Berlin already use only such energy sources.

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The application possibilities of industrial robots are becoming ever more diverse. This also applies to the food and beverage industry. There, robots load packaging machines with chocolates, fill potato salad in bowls, pack Nürnberger Rostbratwürste and palletise boxes or displays.

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