1. Overview
Industrial waste can be treated by two different ways: a destructive treatment to eliminate the potential contaminants or recovery processes that valorise the products. The first one is called an end-of-tube treatment that are usually employed to treat waste water or to avoid atmospheric contaminations. However, some industrial by-products from food industry, traditionally considered as wastes, still contain valuable compounds that can be recovered or used as substrate to obtain via fermentation other products with higher added value. This is the case of whey obtained in great quantities from dairies.
Another important aspect in the food industry is to guarantee microbial safety in their products. In this sense, the knowledge of the behaviour of pathogen microorganisms under different conditions results very useful in order to select the better processing methods. In solid or semi-solid foods, diffusion effects usually play a key role in the level of contamination achieved, so, models that include diffusion and reaction terms may be an useful tool in the design and selection of good practices for operation, transport, storage and market of food in the safest conditions.
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2. Objectives
Biorecovery of dairy wastes
Determination of kinetics in the transformation processes
Analysis and design of bioreactors and equipment
Modelling of processes
Analysis of microbial growth in solid media
Evaluation of industrial proceedings under environmental analysis
3. Subjects (and research projects)
Use of industrial wastes for enzymes production
New uses of dairy whey and other substrates for fine chemistry products
Food safety
Environmental practises in the food industry and life cycle assessment
4. Dissertations
Thesis:
«Producción de proteasas extracelulares por Serratia marcescens en medios proteicos»
F.J. Ustáriz, Oviedo, September 2004 (M. Díaz, L.A. García, A. Laca)
Research projects:
«Optimización y caracterización de la producción de proteasas extracelulares por Serratia marcescens mediante fermentación discontinua con lactosuero fresco»
F.J. Ustáriz, September 2001 (M. Díaz, L.A. García, A. Laca)
«Cultivo de hibridomas y obtención de anticuerpos monoclonales con aplicación en cromatografía de inmunoafinidad: Recuperación de proteínas de residuos alimentarios»
L. Legazpi, June 2004 (M. Díaz, A. Laca)
«Utilidad del análisis de ciclo de vida en el sector de platos preparados de la industria alimentaria» Luis Alberto Calderón, Febrero 2010 (Mónica Herrero, Adriana Laca y Mario Díaz).
Master thesis:
«Diseño medioambiental en granjas de vacuno»
L. Zapico, April 2004 (A.G. Lavín, A. Laca)
5. Group members
Professor Díaz Fernández, Mario 985103439 mariodiaz@uniovi.es
Lecturer Laca Pérez, Adriana 985102914
lacaadriana@uniovi.es
Senior Researcher Herrero Vázquez, Mónica 985103440
herreromonica@uniovi.es
Researcher Noriega Fernández, Estefanía 985103440 taisnorfdez@hotmail.com
6. Contact person
Adriana Laca Pérez
Phone: 34 985102974
E-Mail: lacaadriana@uniovi.es
Mónica Herrero Vázquez
E-Mail: herreromonica@uniovi.es