Sustainable processes and products
Principal Investigator: Simão Pedro de Almeida Pinho
Sustainable Products group aims to address challenges such as:
- Development of sustainable processes and methodologies (lab- and pilot-scale) to be applied as engineering tools in the design and manufacturing of intermediate and final products;
- Development of sustainable products and materials for application in different industrial sectors: economic, environmental and social valorisation of mountain ecosystems in an integrated approach with the other R&I area (Socio-ecological Systems);
- Integration of technological and engineering knowledge with core knowledge on chemical, biochemical, biological, and pharmaceutical sciences to generate, in a cooperative and interdisciplinary scientific/technological environment, innovative products;
- Development of natural and bio-based ingredients through green and sustainable processes and valorisation in added-value innovative products;
- Working in industrial symbiosis to enable the completion of productive chains with relevance at regional, national and international levels.
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- Innovative products that meet consumer's growing expectations, ensuring consumer safety, according to the applied legislation.
The main research topics of the Group are:
Processes and products engineering
- Development and scale-up of chemical engineering processes for the production/valorisation of sustainable products and materials and technology transfer;
- Integration of environmental protection technologies, and technologies for the valorisation of bio-based residues into energy applications towards a sustainable industrial development;
- Development of functional, hybrid, responsive and bio-based materials for textile, footwear, energy, agro-food, cosmetic, biomedical and environmental protection applications;
- Application of thermodynamic models to predict the composition of relevant matrices in multi-phasic separation/reaction systems and to optimize extraction processes;
- Development of methodologies to stabilize and enable incorporation of functional extracts/compounds and achieve sustained release in applications like agro-food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics or nutraceuticals;
- Development of electrochemical sensor technology (e.g. electronic tongues and aptasensors) for application in food science.
Topic Coordinator: Helder Teixeira Gomes
Natural and bio-based ingredients
- Development of protocols for the identification and extraction of bio-active compounds from natural matrices and bio-based residues;
- Assessment of bioactive and/or nutraceutical properties, valorising mountain products as functional foods and as sources of nutraceutical ingredients;
- Implementation of emerging protocols to evaluate bioactivity of food and other mountain products such as medicinal plants;
- Development of natural and bio-based ingredients in the classes of preservatives, colourants, aromas and bioactives to replace synthetic counterparts widely used as additives in food and cosmetic formulations.
- Externalization of the innovative natural and bio-based ingredients into other industrial sectors, such as textile, footwear and leather industry;
- Branding and marketing of mountain ingredients and products through the promotion entrepreneurship activities.
Topic Coordinator: Rui Miguel Vaz de Abreu
