A Sustainability Driven Methodology for Process Synthesis in Agro-Food Industry

Within the agro-food industry, agro-materials are converted into a range of valuable semi-finished and finished products. To reach a sustainable, resource efficient food system, the optimal process pathways converting the agro-material into these products have to be identified. To identify these pathways, a systematic Process Synthesis (PS) method is needed for the agro-food industry. This sustainability driven PS method should enable the synthesis of the optimal process pathways, converting an agro-material into a range of valuable products, producing minimal waste or low-value by-products. In this paper, the elements required for such a method are proposed. The relevance of these elements is illustrated with a simple illustrative case for the processing of tropical fruit. The proposed approach uses Multi-Objective Optimisation methods, to provide decision support for PS to decision makers in the agro-food industry. This leads to new insights in optimal pathways for processing agro-materials for the agro-food industry.