Cosun news

01/30/2006

EU recognition for Aviko's environmentally friendlier blanching method

The European Union encourages the use of ground-breaking technologies to tackle environmental problems by making funding available through the European LIFE Environment programme. Aviko is one of the recipients of this financial support, for its ‘Demonstration of a closed loop blanching system for the potato processing industry’ project. The objective of the project is to develop an innovative method of blanching potatoes in a more environmentally friendly manner during the industrial production process. Since 1992, the LIFE Environment programme has co-funded about 2500 projects, to which it has committed 1.5 billion euros. In 2005, 534 applications were submitted from 17 countries. The European Commission selected 89 of these projects to receive funding. One of them is Aviko’s closed loop blanching system. Blanching Aviko processes potatoes to produce potato specialities. Blanching the peeled potatoes is one of the processing steps. Blanching removes sugars from the potatoes. These sugars pass into the blanching water. If the potatoes were not blanched, the potato products would have hard, dark brown patches after being deep-fried. Unfortunately, valuable substances such as amino acids, vitamins and minerals, which Aviko would prefer to keep in the potato, also pass into the blanching water. With the currently used method, the water has to be replaced when it is so saturated with sugars that it cannot absorb any more of them. Aviko’s saturated blanching water is channelled into the wastewater network of the regional water board and, after appropriate treatment, is discharged into surface water. Aviko’s wastewater also contains valuable substances, which are lost when it is discharged. In addition, Aviko must regularly pump up groundwater and heat it to the blanching temperature. Environmentally friendlier Aviko expects that the closed loop blanching method will considerably reduce its consumption of groundwater and discharges of blanching water. This represents a major reduction of the burden on the environment. Moreover, Aviko will no longer lose valuable substances. The power of the new technology lies in the closed system, in which the same water can be used repeatedly for blanching. Aviko has succeeded in converting the sugars in the blanching water into other natural substances. This prevents the blanching water from becoming saturated with the sugars, which can therefore be continuously blanched out of the potatoes. There is almost no need to replace the water, so less wastewater has to be discharged and less groundwater has to be abstracted. Moreover, less energy is required to bring the blanching water up to the necessary temperature. While the sugars are converted into other substances, the amino acids, minerals and vitamins remain in the blanching water. The water becomes saturated with them and therefore cannot absorb any more of them from the potatoes. This has no effect on the transfer of sugars from the potatoes to the water, but means that the other valuable substances remain in the potatoes. Aviko therefore improves the yield from the processed substances. Innovative Aviko’s process technologists and the process engineers from Cosun Food Technology Centre have succeeded in finding an ingenious solution to the problem of converting the sugars in the blanching water into another natural substance. The know-how behind the closed loop blanching method is so innovative that Aviko has applied for a patent. Under the heading ‘Cosun and the community’, the project team reports on the progress of this ‘LIFE project’. <<< back