Energy utilization, carbon dioxide emission, and exergy loss in flavored yogurt production process

This paper investigates the impact of food production processes on the environment in terms of energy and exergy utilization and carbon dioxide emission. There are three different energy utilization mechanisms in food production: Utilization of solar energy by plants to produce agricultural goods; feed consumption by herbivores to produce meat and milk; fossil fuel consumption by industrial processes to perform mixing, cooling, heating, etc. Production of strawberry-flavored yogurt, which involves these three mechanisms, is investigated here thermodynamically. Analysis starts with the cultivation of the ingredients and ends with the transfer of the final product to the market. The results show that 53% of the total exergy loss occurs during the milk production and 80% of the total work input is consumed during the plain yogurt making. The cumulative degree of perfection is 3.6% for the strawberry-flavored yogurt. This value can rise up to 4.6%, if renewable energy resources like hydropower and algal biodiesel are employed instead of fossil fuels. This paper points the direction for the development of new technology in food processing to decrease waste of energy and carbon dioxide accumulation in the atmosphere. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.