Material Flow Analysis in a cooked mussel processing industry Pastora M a . Bello Bugallo a,⇑ , Anna Stupak b , Laura Cristóbal Andrade a , Rosa Torres López a a School of Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, Av. Lope Gómez de Marzoa, s/n, E-15782, Santiago de Compostela, Spain b Chemical Faculty, Gdansk University of Technology, Poland article info Article history: Received 12 January 2012 Received in revised form 27 April 2012 Accepted 12 May 2012 Available online 22 May 2012 Keywords: Mussel processing industry Material and Energy Flow Analysis BAT Analysis Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Improvable Flows abstract Galicia (NW Spain) is an ideal environment for mussel culture owing to its excellent natural conditions. It is the first Spanish and European mussel producer and the second worldwide after China. More than 50% of the mussel collected in Galicia is used in the processing industry, which produces different products, as cooked mussel that is canned, frozen or used in the food industry. In this paper a methodology based on Life Cycle Thinking has been applied to a mussel processing plant. The methodology combines Material and Energy Flow Analysis (MEFA) and BAT (Best Available Techniques) Analysis to detect the Improvable Flows (IF) of the process and to propose techniques that enhance the process. The results obtained after the application of the methodology will be used to improve the performance of the plant. It will also be considered the suitability of the methodology for being applied to other plants of the sector. Crown Copyright Ó 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Mussels are popular seafood consumed by around 73% of the Spanish households (Illescas et al., 2007). Galicia, in the North- West of Spain, is the world leader in the cultivation of mussels for human consumption (Mar de España, 2010; Mejillón de Galicia, 2011), producing more than 212.000 tonnes in 2010 (IGE, 2011). This Spanish region is an ideal environment for mussel culture thanks to its natural conditions: around 1200 km of coast crossed by rías or estuaries, ancient river valleys that were flooded by the sea. Mussels from the Galician ríasrepresent 94%of the Spanish and 50% of the worldwide production (OPMEGA, 2012), and its excellent quality has been recognised with the first European Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) for a seafood product (Costas-Rodríguez et al., 2010). Mussel species Mytilus galloprovincialis and Mytilus edullis are cul- tured in the so-called bateas (or floating rafts) spread across the Gali- cian rías, where they benefit from warm and full of nutrients waters protected from severe weather conditions. Bateas are floating mus- sel farms with suspended ropes for cultivation. Their maximum sur- face area is about 500 m 2 , with a maximum of 500 ropes (Caballero Míguez et al., 2009). The typical cultivation process involves obtain- ing the mussel seed, growing the seed, thinning out the juveniles and growing them up until adult size (Duarte et al., 2008). The Galician aquaculture and mussel culture sector are a funda- mental support for the regional economy. With more than 3300 bateas, this sector generates about 11,500 direct jobs and 7000 indirect with an annual turnover between 120–150 million euros in the first sale (Mejillón de Galicia, 2011). More than 50% of the mussel captured is used in the processing industry, whereas the rest is consumed fresh (IPAC, 2006). Nevertheless, the higher prices obtained for fresh mussels results in a higher turnover, which rep- resents between 50% and 60% of the total turnover of the sector (Franco Leis, 2006; Labarta et al., 2004). The mussel processing industry includes three different types of activities (Iribarren et al., 2010a): – Depuration/dispatch centres: for fresh mussel market. These plants perform a process that includes reception, washing, puri- fication, classification, packing, and labelling of the fresh mus- sels for human consumption (AGADE, 2010). Purification involves keeping mussels in water free of pathogens for at least 42 h, so that molluscs can filter water and get depurated (Iribar- ren et al., 2010a). Mussels aiming to keep their PDO qualifica- tion should be depurated with seawater from the Galician rías (MARM, 2010). 0260-8774/$ - see front matter Crown Copyright Ó 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2012.05.014 Abbreviations: BAT, Best Available Technique; DAF, Dissolved Air Flotation; HHV, High Heating Value; HOL, High Organic Load; IF, Improvable Flows; IPPC, Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control; LCA, Life Cycle Assessment; LCT, Life Cycle Thinking; LOL, Low Organic Load; MEFA, Material and Energy Flow Analysis; NMVOC, Non-Methane Volatile Organic Compounds; PAH, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; PCDD, Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins; PCDF, Polychlorinated dib- enzofurans; PDO, Protected Designation of Origin; PM-10, particulate matter (particles of 10 micrometers or less); SME, Small and Medium-sized Enterprise. ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 8818 16757, Fax: +34 8818 16702. E-mail address: pastora.bello.bugallo@usc.es (P.M. Bello Bugallo). Journal of Food Engineering 113 (2012) 100–117 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Journal of Food Engineering journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng