Abstract
The food industry urgently needs to design sustainability into its processes. Here we develop a methodological framework for the ecodesign of food processes. The framework combines process flowsheeting (using a process simulation tool) and multiobjective optimization with life-cycle and cost-cycle analysis tools embedded in a multicriteria decision support tool. The framework developed is illustrated by the example of milk evaporation, which is one of the most energy-intensive processes in the dairy industry and has huge potential for optimization. The commercial process simulator was first adapted to modeling milk evaporators. Economic and environmental criteria were then computed from inventories of both the production and cleaning phases, and we went on to apply multiobjective optimization (with a genetic algorithm) and multicriteria decision-making either independently or in combination. The potential of the framework was demonstrated first through analysis of three evaporator design solutions, and second as a support for the strategic choice of a fuel for the purpose of on-site energy production. This work provides a pathway to ecodesigning the entire milk powder production chain.