Brief description of the institution:

Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) is the single Spanish Technical University that features in the main University world rankings. It is within the top 5 Spanish Universities with the highest revenue from both public research and knowledge transfer activities, and a national leader in patent license income and start up creation. Constituted in 1971, it comprises nearly 30.000 students, over 2500 academics, and 17 university research centres of excellence. 

UPV has a relevant experience in the participation in international research programmes, with over 100 FP7 projects and 60 H2020 projects in the period 2014-2016. UPV researchers are also actively involved in all H2020 life program stages, from workprogramme drafting discussions, to project coordination. It is also taking part in several major partnering initiatives (JTIs, PPPs, KICs…).

Brief description of the Centre/Research Group (including URL if applicable):

Department of Food Technology of the Politechnic University of Valencia is one of the biggest departments of food technology of Spain in terms of number of researchers and scientific production (publications, patents, …). The ASPA (Analysis and Simulation of Agro-food Processes) in one of the research groups of the department. It is constituted by 7 professors and 2 laboratory technicians. The leitmotiv of the group is the improving or the developing of the existing or new food processes. In this sense, some of the research lines of the group are the modelling, simulation and optimization of food process, the intensification of food process (drying, osmotic dehydration, salting, desalting, extraction, supercritical fluid extraction,…) by application of power ultrasound or the application of nondestructive systems to food and process control. The approach “out of the box” is much implemented in the group. This means that we try to solve problems related to food science, food technology and nutrition using new technologies and collaborating with research institutions of other areas. Specifically, the group works in cooperation with the group of Ultrasonic Systems and Technologies in Madrid in the development of acoustic transducers for food process intensification.

Project description:

Ultrasonic assisted drying of by-products to obtain valuable products

The drying of food is not only a method for food preservation but also reduces packaging, storage, handling and transportation costs and provides a wider range of products for consumers. However, drying is a highly energy intensive process. Moreover, the high temperatures normally used and the low processing rate produce irreversible modifications that can affect both the composition and structure of products leading to a significant loss of quality. So, the lowering the process temperature and/or increase the process kinetics has great interest. High intensity ultrasound has been demonstrated as an efficient way to intensify air convective drying processes. The effects of ultrasound are mainly mechanical, affecting both internal and external mass transfer resistance. However, the different process variables can affect the influence of ultrasound on the drying rate. The ASPA group is pioneer in the implementation of ultrasonic efficient systems in drying process at both high and low temperature, with significant results in reducing process time and energy consumption. In this context, the aim of the present project is the study of the acoustically assisted drying of several byproducts at high and low temperatures (atmospheric freeze drying) with the goal to obtain new high quality products or stable materials to extract compound of interest. The study not only include the study of the influence of the process variables in drying kinetics but also in the product quality obtained and in the energy consumption of the process.

Applications

Required documents: Curriculum Vitae and motivation letter

Deadline: 31st July 2017

http://www.eshorizonte2020.es/expressions-of-interests/juan-a.-carcel