ModIC (Modeling and engineering by calculation)

The widespread impact of food production (health, safety, environment, economy, society) and the rapid societal changes requires a new quantitative approach to all issues related to the engineering of food production, processing, and distribution systems (eco-design, sustainability, agility). Engineering research must be forward-looking and enable the rapid and cost-effective exploration of alternative production methods.

With the continuous growth of computing, storage, and Internet capabilities, modeling and simulation can drive and support scientific research as well as the expected changes at all levels of society. Models have become essential tools for understanding phenomena (transfers, transformations, reactions) and for managing and resolving their coupling at all scales. Moreover, they can be used for various purposes, such as redefining processes or unit operations, rationally combining operations, assisting in packaging design, and multi-criteria optimization."

The team aims to address both scientific and operational challenges by:

1. Developing mechanistic models to:

• Understand interactions between elementary phenomena occurring at different spatial and temporal scales
• Highlight elementary phenomena, even when they are strongly coupled
• Predict the behavior and structure of materials based on their composition and thermomechanical history during processing
• Model structure-property relationships at atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scales

2. Using models for design and engineering to:

• Support European regulations for materials in contact with food
• Assess risks (chemical, microbiological)
• Assist in the design and optimization of substances, materials, packaging, and supply chains (safe and eco-designed)
• Facilitate the design of clean and resource-efficient processes
• Support rational approaches to scaling up
• Enhance process flexibility and intensification
• Aid decision-making
• Ensure technology transfer to the socio-economic sector