Foto: Sukkertang. DTU Fødevareinstituttet.

Students to make ingredients from new biomasses and by-products

Food, fish and agriculture Food production Food technology
A new course will enable students at the Technical University of Denmark to extract extra value from the food industry's by-products by creating new, sustainable ingredients.

Overall, Danish companies account for 14% of the world market for ingredients. Denmark's position of strength is due, among other things, to knowledge institutions such as the Technical University of Denmark conducting research into the development of healthy, safe and sustainable ingredients. 

Researchers at the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, are e.g. well on the way to extracting ingredients from by-products from the production of potato flour and they have managed to extract omega-3 fatty acids from fish trimmings and antioxidants from seaweed, which can be used to enrich food.

There are, however, many unexplored opportunities hidden in the huge amounts of by-products that food producers generate.

Out-of-the-box thinking

As part of the university’s increased focus on the field of ingredients, the National Food Institute will offer master’s students a new course where they can gain a thorough knowledge of the role that ingredients such as emulsifiers, antioxidants and stabilizers play in food. The students will also gain an insight into how to transform components in different by-products into valuable, sustainable ingredients.

The course consists mainly of case-based work, where students will develop a new idea on how to extract ingredients from different by-products such as pulp from the production of potato flour and juice, and trimmings from the processing of fish. The course could also require the students to extract several ingredients from the same resource, such as microalgae or seaweed.

The exercises have no set answer. They require the students to think out of the box and find innovative ideas that can lead to the development of new ingredients thereby creating value from a low-value by-product. 

Student who come up with a great idea during the course will be able to enter it into GREEN CHALLENGE, the university’s study conference on sustainability, climate technology and the environment

Read more 

The course is offered for the first time during the spring semester 2019. Read the course description in the DTU course base.

 

Working to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals

The National Food Institute’s efforts to develop a sustainable food and feed production supports the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal aimed at increasing sustainable production patterns.