Graduate student makes two presentations at the 14th ICEF Conference in Nantes, France
July 20, 2023
Graduate student Mr. Prince Agyemang participated in the 4-calender year International Congress on Engineering and Food (ICEF14),
held in Nantes, France. Mr Agyemang presented on the topic “ Enhancing the sustainability outlook of co/by-products: a case of
fruits and vegetable chain in Quebec”.
In his presentation, Mr Agyemang shared background information about the different
sustainability concepts, such as circular economy, upcycling, and sustainable design, that are being pursued in different sectors
to meet the global and regional net-zero emission targets.
He also highlighted the need for companies in their efforts to get to these sustainable targets
within different areas and not loose sight of unintended consequences that may arise.
Mr. Agyemang demonstrates a holistic, sustainable evaluation framework that provides management
with a broader system-level analysis of co/by-product upcycling potential at the industrial scale,
considering economic opportunities, environmental impact, social implications, and technical efficiencies.
In demonstrating the applicability of this framework in his presentation, Mr. Agyemang showed the audience
six case study extraction processes to produce pectin from apple pomace. As part of his preliminary evidence,
Mr Agyemang emphasized that sometimes positive intentions of addressing current waste problems from food-process
industries may lead to unintended adverse outcomes.
For example, adopting upcycling systems such as the subcritical water extraction method
(one of six upycling techniques explored) to produce 1 unit of pectin can generate 81 units
of solid and liquid aqueous waste. However, for broader value creation beyond pectin to include
biohydrogen and protein/lignin powder, additional waste was reduced to 9.8 units.
The conference proved valuable as Mr. Agyemang made some good friends and connected with some high school mates who were living in France.