The Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning/McGill University

Published purpose

The development of sustainability assessment based on techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle analysis (LCA) of pulse-based protein processing techniques has not been well established in Canada. Most of the available data for LCA/TEA practitioners currently use US and European data inventories, when available, in proxy for Canadian data to complete sustainability assessments. Given the sensitivity of assessment results to data inputs, it is essential to capture local/regional data input and make them available in an organized database to support rigorous and meaningful LCA/TEA output. While Canada spearheads the plant-based diets, it is essential to establish environmental and economic implications and trade-offs of current routes to their production. This Project will provide a detailed technical, economic, and environmental assessment of current processes for both protein and starch production. By combining experimental data and process simulations, the Project will provide optimization pathways that will enhance sustainability assessments using plant protein based on technical, economics and environmental criteria.