PhD student Caroline Trevisan Weber is participating in the Rede Sapiens cultural contest. For the contest the student presents the main aspects of an alcoholic sweet potato drink production and its economic evaluation, which was her master’s project in Chemical Engineering at UFRGS.
ABSTRACT
Brazil is the 16th largest sweet potato producer in the world, especially RS, which holds 24% of this production. We generate 350 thousand tons of sweet potato waste per year in Brazil! Food waste is responsible for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions. Following the concepts of the circular economy, we propose the implementation of a sweet potato biorefinery, generating value-added products from these residues. One of these products is a 25% alcoholic distilled beverage called Tchêchu. More information in the video!