The UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change ESCI-UPF participates in the 9th International Chemistry Congress of ANQUE “Foods and Beverages” through its Research Lines in Agrifood and Waste Management, in Murcia (Spain). Held from 17 to 20 June, this international congress offers researchers and entrepreneurs a unique opportunity to debate and exchange information on the latest scientific and technological advances in the field of Food and Beverages. Organised by the Spanish National Association of Chemists and Chemical Engineers (ANQUE, in its Spanish acronym), this event brings together around 40 international companies, public bodies, research centers, and universities involved in cutting-edge research, including the Chair.

“One of the main challenges within the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 is food security, aimed at guaranteeing enough supply of safe, healthy and high-quality food and other bio-products. Hence, the event highlights the importance of a competitive and sustainable agrifood industry to achieve a healthy and safe diet,” as stressed by the organisers. The congress involves 7 purpose-designed thematic areas, each of them organised into various specific subtopics on food and beverage preservation and safety, innovation and trends, the environmental aspects associated with its production, distribution and preparations, or training, education and food communication, among others. The seventh topic on the agenda consists of a workshop entitled “Water-energy-food nexus: a life cycle thinking approach,” to close the programme.

Research at the Chair

During the four-day congress, aimed at stimulating research on “Foods and Beverages” among worldwide, the Chair’s Research Lines in Agrifood and Waste Management explain their latest and most relevant projects regarding this topic. Today, 19th June, sees the presentation of the Chair’s researchers, in the Room 2 of the Hotel Thalasia, at San Pedro del Pinatar, Murcia. Gonzalo Blanca-Alcubilla, PhD Candidate of the Waste Management Line, presents the session “Potential energy recovery from aviation catering organic waste in Spain. The Zero Cabin Waste Project,” at 9.00 am. In parallel, Rubén Aldaco, researcher at the University of Cantabria and collaborator at the Chair within various Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) projects, conducts a session entitled “Workshop nexus.”

The LIFE Zero Cabin Waste Project is aimed at improving the management of waste derived from the catering airplanes’ service. Throughout the project it is intended to study the different waste streams in cabin applying LCA to propose minimization measures, and the implementation of an effective residues’ separation. As a result, Zero Cabin Waste aims to establish a basis for sustainable waste management, with the possibility to be applied by other airline companies. Iberia together with Ecoembes, Gate Gourmet (GG), Ferrovial, Biogas Fuel Cell (BFC) and ESCI-UPF, are developing the project from September 2016 to December 2019.

Then, after a poster session, Laura Batlle-Bayer, Phd Candidate and responsible for the Agrifood Research Line, introduces her work “Assessing GHG -Greenhouse Gases- emissions of Spanish diets,” as a synthesis of the CERES-ProCon Project, at 11.00 am. The ‘CERES-ProCon Project: Food production and consumption strategies for climate change mitigation’, 2016-2019, pursues the objective of designing strategies to improve the sustainability of food production and consumption in the current Spanish context, by analysing different impact categories such as the carbon footprint of an average Spanish diet.

Alba Bala, senior researcher and leader of the Waste Management Research Line, is also representing the Chair at the congress supporting initiatives on the implementation of LCA methodology to analyse the environmental impacts of systems, such as products or services, to find possible solutions towards climate change mitigation.