CENTRE FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY USE IN FOOD CHAINS

Completed

Energy Efficiency(Residential and commercial)
Not Energy Related

Basic and strategic applied research

SOCIAL SCIENCES (Economics and Econometrics)
SOCIAL SCIENCES (Business and Management Studies)
SOCIAL SCIENCES (Psychology)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (General Engineering and Mineral & Mining Engineering)

Not Cross-cutting
Systems Analysis related to energy R&D
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Consumer attitudes and behaviour)
Other (Energy technology information dissemination)

Professor SA Tassou
Sch of Engineering and Design
Brunel University

Standard

EPSRC

01 April 2013

30 June 2019

75 months

£5,699,187

Energy

London

Energy : Energy

Professor SA Tassou, Sch of Engineering and Design, Brunel University

Professor A Azapagic, Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, University of Manchester
Dr S Bakalis, Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham
Professor M Bourlakis, School of Management, Cranfield University
Professor PJ Fryer, Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham
Dr Y Ge, Sch of Engineering and Design, Brunel University
Dr M Kolokotroni, Sch of Engineering and Design, Brunel University
Professor IT Norton, Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham
Professor J Song, Sch of Engineering and Design, Brunel University
Dr AJ Stewart, Psychological Science, University of Manchester
Dr C Theodoropoulos, Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, University of Manchester
Professor GAA Wossink, Social Sciences, University of Manchester

Project Contact, Process Integration Limited
Project Contact, Cargill Plc (UK)
Project Contact, British Refrigeration Association
Project Contact, Centre for Process Innovation - CPI
Project Contact, Doug Marriott Associates
Project Contact, Environmental Sustainability Knowledge Transfer Network
Project Contact, Buro Happold Ltd
Project Contact, The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT)
Project Contact, Maintenance Management Ltd
Project Contact, WR Refrigeration
Project Contact, The Sustainability Consortium, USA
Project Contact, Food Storage and Distribution Federation
Project Contact, Kraft Foods Group, Inc, USA
Project Contact, Kellogg Europe Trading Limited
Project Contact, Heineken International B.V., The Netherlands
Project Contact, Thorntons Budgens
Project Contact, Hydropac Ltd
Project Contact, Biosciences KTN
Project Contact, Food and Drink Federation
Project Contact, Kelvion Searle
Project Contact, Marks and Spencer
Project Contact, Premier Foods Group Ltd
Project Contact, Tesco PLC
Project Contact, Campden BRI
Project Contact, PepsiCo, USA
Project Contact, Chemistry Innovation
Project Contact, Iceland Foods Ltd
Project Contact, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro
Project Contact, WRAP
Project Contact, H J Heinz Company Ltd
Project Contact, DEFRA
Project Contact, Institute of Food Science and Technology
Project Contact, Monodraught Ltd
Project Contact, Waitrose

The UK food chain, comprising agricultural production, manufacturing, distribution, retail and consumption, involves more than 300,000 enterprises and employs 3.6 million people. The food and drink industry is the largest manufacturing sector, employing 500,000 people and contributing 80 billion to the economy. It is also estimated that the food chain is responsible for 160 MtCO2e emissions and 15 Mt of food waste, causing significant environmental impacts. Energy is an important input in all stages of the food chain and is responsible for 18% of the UK's final energy demand.In recent years, progress has been made in the reduction of energy consumption and emissions from the food chain primarily through the application of well proven technologies that could lead to quick return on investment. To make further progress, however, significant innovations will have to be made in approaches and technologies at all stages of the food chain, taking a holistic view of the chain and the interactions both within the chain and the external environment.The EPSRC Centre for Sustainable Energy Use in Food Chains will make significant contributions in this field. It will bring together multidisciplinary research groups of substantial complementary experience and internationally leading research track record from the Universities of Brunel, Manchester and Birmingham and a large number of key stakeholders to investigate and develop innovative approaches and technologies to effect substantial end use energy demand reductions.The Centre will engage both in cutting edge research into approaches and technologies that will have significant impacts in the future, leading towards the target of 80% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050, but also into research that will have demonstrable impacts within the initial five year lifetime of the Centre.Taking a whole systems approach, the research themes will involve:i) Simulation of energy and resource flows in the food chain, from farm-gte to plate to enable investigations of energy and resource flows between the stages of the chain and the external environment, and facilitate overall energy and resource use optimisation taking into consideration the impact of policy decisions, future food and energy prices and food consumption trends.ii) Investigation of approaches and technologies for the reduction of energy use at all stages of the chain through reduction of the energy intensity of individual processes and optimisation of resource use. It is expected that a number of new innovative and more efficient technologies and approaches for energy reduction will be developed in the lifetime of the Centre to address processing, distribution, retail and final consumption in the home and the service sector.iii) Identification of optimal ways of interaction between the food chain and the UK energy supply system to help manage varying demand and supply through distributed power generation and demand-response services to the grid.iv) Study of consumer behaviour and the impact of key influencing factors such as changing demographics, increased awareness of the needs and requirements of sustainable living, economic factors and consumption trends on the nature and structure of the food chain and energy use.Even though the focus will be on the food chain, many of the approaches and technologies developed will also be applicable to other sectors of the economy such as industry, commercial and industrial buildings and transportation of goods. The Centre will involve extensive collaboration with the user community, manufacturers of technology, Government Departments, Food Associations and other relevant research groups and networks. A key vehicle for dissemination and impact will be a Food Energy and Resource Network which will organise regular meetings and annual international conferences to disseminate the scientific outputs and engage the national and international research and user communitie

11/12/13