Project: Resource efficiency optimisation of 2nd class vegetables via biorefinery solutions to improve sustainability in the agrifood chain and climate change resilience

Acronym	DEMETER (Reference Number: 59)
Duration	01/01/2020 - 31/12/2021
Project Topic	DEMETER project will investigate new pathways to increase resource efficiency in the agrifood value chain via 4 pre-defined biorefinery pathways for the valorisation of vegetable residues that currently are not valorized and are seen as a nett loss for the vegetable growers and first transformation industries. These four pathways are the production of high quality juices, bulk juices, cold and hot soup production and cracking of pomace and processing residues into functional ingredients for human consumption. The overal objective of the project is to establish a more sustainable and resilient agrofood value chain, thanks to the differentiation in valorisation pathways and higher added value products produced out of residues farmers will generate a higher price for their production guaranteed and reduce the losses in terms of raw materials and money. Food processors will be able to guarantee more stable prices for the entire harvests to the farmers. This will strengthen the long term relationship between the vegetable grower and the food processing companies. The project includes research and industrial expertise from players through the complete agrifood value chain, from farmer to food processor. The research in the project will be focussing on the crops in which the involved companies are mainly active with and have huge residue losses: carrots, beetroot, broccoli, leek and pomace from apple and orange juice production. The valorisation of the residues and secondary quality materials through the 4 mentioned biorefinery pathways require specific knowledge and expertise that is currently not available in the extend that sustainable business cases can be set up. Several technological challenges need to be resolved to establish a solid value chain that is based on the agriculture residues and secondary raw materials investigated in this project. DEMETER project has identified for each valorisation pathway research challenges. If these challenges will be resolved a more differentiated valorisation of the entire harvests in the studied vegetable value chains will be possible and will pave the way to make the value chain more resilient against raw material quality and market fluctuations. It is expected that the project will identify the most suitable biorefining solutions, technologies and process parameters for direct processing of the side streams onsite at vegetable collection and primary processing plants. For each biorefinery pathway DEMETER will include economic feasibility and LCA study. By end 2022 the industrial partners in the project aim to valorize at least 33% of their annual volume of secondary raw materials, with a minimum profit margin of 10%.
Website	visit project website
Network	FACCE SURPLUS
Call	3rd FACCE SURPLUS Call for proposals

Project partner

Number	Name	Role	Country
1	Verduyn NV	Coordinator	Belgium
2	INRA SQPOV	Partner	France
3	INRA BIA	Partner	France
4	Verduyn France sarl	Partner	France
5	Juicy Group	Partner	Belgium