Executive Summary : | Numerous unit operations of food industries like soaking, parboiling, blanching, extraction and peeling demand a large amount of water and is the reason for the generation of effluent and greenhouse gases (GHG). Soaking and steaming of several grains before gelatinization of starch is essential to reduce the content of phytate and enzyme inhibitors. But, it requires a large amount of water i.e. 1.3 to 8 cubic meters water per tonne of grains while the process uses only 2.9 to 17.6% of the added water and rest is discharged as wastewater with higher BOD and COD values. The traditional hydrothermal based processing emits GHG, demands an effluent treatment plant (ETP), results in quality damage and the process is energy and cost intensive. In the present context of scarcity of fresh water and strict environmental norms for effluent discharge, there is need of cost-effective and eco-friendly food processing methods that use less water, and hence there will be less/no effluent discharge. Microwave (MW) (2.45 GHz) and infrared (IR) (3.0 to 1000 ?m) radiations produce heat in the food products through volumetric heating and rapid radiative heating, respectively, that reduces the requirement of a large amount of water, boilers, ETP, emission of GHGs, time, labor and energy. MW and IR blanching were reported to retain the water-soluble nutrients by reducing the water leaching, rapid enzyme inactivation and eliminate wastewater generation as compared to the traditional processing. Ultraviolet light (UV-C) has been reported to have microbicidal effects and is used for surface disinfection of fruits and vegetables. Despite, there is no complete technology available to use MW, IR and UV energy for parboiling, blanching, dehydration, skin disinfection, peeling and extraction operations in food industries. Therefore, a new process of using non-ionizing electromagnetic energy (MW, IR & UV) can be beneficial to food industries across the country to save costs of water, energy, equipment, and effluent management. Non-ionising radiations like microwaves, infrared and UV are mainly effluent free, environment-friendly and cost-effective. The effectiveness of non-ionizing radiations in soaking/parboiling, blanching, drying, extraction, peeling and surface disinfection have been proved through several recent national and international publications. The project is aimed to develop non-ionizing electromagnetic energy assisted food processes and equipment which will require only minimal water for the absorption and hence no effluent and GHG generation. Conservation of freshwater, elimination of effluent treatment plants, boilers and GHG emissions, food quality enhancement, food safety and energy saving will be the concrete output of the project. |