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The DEMETER project is dedicated to the valorization of by-products from vegetable production.

Among the different tasks of the program led by the Belgian company Verdyun, the BIA Unit is involved in the characterization of pomace and vegetable by-products. Our objective is to develop new uses of pomace after gentle processing to produce new ingredients for developing textures or providing beneficial nutritional characteristics in prototype juices or soups. These prototypes will be produced and characterized by the other INRAE team involved in the project: the UMR SQPOV in Avignon.

The overall objective of the DEMETER project is to establish a more sustainable and resilient agri-food value chain, through the differentiation of value chains and higher value-added products from residues or out-of-spec products.

Four value-added pathways will be studied: production of high-quality juices,  bulk juices, production of cold and hot soup, and cracking of pomace and processing residues into functional ingredients for human consumption.

The DEMETER project has identified research challenges for each valorization pathway. If these challenges are solved, a more differentiated valorization of the entire harvests in the studied vegetable value chains will be possible and will pave the way to make the value chain more résilient against raw material quality and market fluctuations.

For each biorefinery pathway, DEMETER will include an economic feasibility study and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study. By the end of 2022, the industrial partners in the project aim to valorize at least 33% of their annual volume of secondary raw materials, with a minimum profit margin of 10%.

The DEMETER project partners are: Verduyn NV (Belgium), INRAE SQPOV and BIA (France), the agri-food technical center CTCPA (France), Verduyn France sarl (France) and the Juicy Group (Belgium).

• Project period: 01/2020 - 12/2021
• Funding: ERA-NET
• Total funding: 454 k€
• Project partners: Verduyn NV (Belgique), INRAE SQPOV and BIA (France),CTCPA (France), Verduyn France sarl (France), the Juicy Group (Belgique).

• Team involved: PVPP

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