DISCO presentation at the 12^th World Processing Tomato Congress and the 14^th ISHS Symposium on the Processing Tomato

A poster presentation derived from the DISCO project in its biorefinery approach was presented by Lothar Driller and María Eugenia Martínez (Fraunhofer Chile Research) at the 12^th World Processing Tomato Congress and the 14^th ISHS Symposium on the Processing Tomato held in Santiago (Chile) in March 2016.

The presentation entitled “Biogas productivity potential of agro-industrial biomasses generated by the tomato processing industry” derived from the major problem faced by the tomato growing and processing industry related to the accumulation, handling and disposal of processing wastes. Currently, most of the tomato residues are either used as fertilizer or disposed at landfills with its inherent carbon footprint and commercial costs. Anaerobic digestion permits to recover 50-70 % of the chemical energy conserved in the tomato organic matter by converting it into methane gas, allowing up to 99 % of the total weight of plant material to be digested and leaving less than 1 % of solid wastes.

During these two events major global players from the industry met, which gave a unique opportunity to interact, build strategic relationships and discover firsthand scientific and technological advances with the greatest impact for tomato processors. In addition, an overview of the economic future trends in consumption was given and the new consumer profile and challenging methodologies to innovate were discussed.

Further information about the 12^th World Processing Tomato Congress and the 14^th ISHS Symposium on the Processing Tomato is available here: http://www.worldtomatocongress.cl/programa-en.html