SPARC: Sweet Potato By-product Assessment for Resource Circularity — A Literature Review on the Valorization of Peels, Starch Residues, and Other Processing By-products
- Beschreibung
Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) is an important food crop that can be processed into a wide range of products, including flour, starch, snacks, bakery products, and other food ingredients. However, sweet potato processing can also generate substantial amounts of by-products, such as peels, fibrous residues, starch-processing residues, and other organic side streams. These materials may contain valuable components, including dietary fibre, starch, residual carbohydrates, phenolic compounds, pigments, and other potentially useful substances.
Rather than treating these materials solely as waste, a circular bioeconomy approach considers them as potential resources that can be recovered, processed, and converted into value-added products. Possible applications include food ingredients, fibre-rich materials, bio-based products, fermentation substrates, and other applications, depending on the composition, safety, and technical feasibility of the individual by-product.
The SPARC project aims to investigate the current scientific knowledge on the valorization of sweet potato processing by-products through a structured literature review. Students will identify the main types of by-products, examine their reported composition and functional properties, and systematically compare the technologies and applications proposed in scientific publications.
Particular attention will be given to the relationship between by-product characteristics, recovery and conversion technologies, potential applications, and the principles of circular bioeconomy. The project will also examine the sustainability potential and limitations of different valorization strategies, including resource efficiency, waste reduction, technological feasibility, and the availability of evidence concerning economic and environmental performance.
The project is designed as a literature-based research project without laboratory experiments. Students will develop research questions, search and critically evaluate scientific literature, extract and organize published data, compare findings, and identify research gaps.
The expected outcome is a structured overview of sweet potato by-product valorization pathways and an evidence-based assessment of opportunities and challenges for more sustainable sweet potato processing.
- Beschreibung des interdisziplinären Teils des Projekts
- The SPARC project combines concepts and methods from food science and technology, agricultural sciences, biotechnology, environmental sustainability, and circular bioeconomy. From the perspective of food science and technology, students will investigate the composition, functional properties, and potential food applications of sweet potato processing by-products. They will examine how processing history and material characteristics influence their suitability for different applications. From an agricultural and biomass-utilization perspective, the project will explore how sweet potato processing side streams can be incorporated into more resource-efficient production systems and how the recovery of valuable components may contribute to reducing organic material losses. The biotechnology perspective will be considered when reviewing applications involving microbial fermentation, biological conversion, or the production of bio-based materials. These pathways will be assessed using published evidence rather than laboratory experiments. The environmental sustainability perspective will address waste prevention, resource recovery, material efficiency, and the potential environmental implications of alternative valorization pathways. Where sufficient published data are available, students will compare reported sustainability assessments, life-cycle assessment results, or other environmental indicators. Finally, the circular bioeconomy perspective will integrate these findings to assess how different valorization pathways may contribute to closing material loops and creating additional value from sweet potato processing by-products. Economic feasibility, food safety, regulatory considerations, and the practical limitations of scaling up will be discussed where supported by the literature. Through this interdisciplinary approach, students will learn to evaluate a food-processing problem from multiple scientific perspectives and to develop evidence-based recommendations for more sustainable resource utilization.
- Projektzeitraum
- Wintersemester 2026/2027
- Bewerbungszeitraum
- 12. bis 26.10.2026
- Durchführung
- semesterbegleitend
- Details zu Projektzeitraum und Durchführung
Project period and organization
The project will take place during the Wintersemester 2026/2027 and will be carried out on a semester-long basis. The detailed schedule will be agreed upon with the supervisor and adapted to the student's course timetable and selected workload.
The project is suitable for students interested in food science, food technology, agricultural sciences, biotechnology, environmental sustainability, or related disciplines. No previous laboratory experience is required because the project relies exclusively on scientific literature and published data.
Proposed workload: Approximately 90 hours per student (equivalent to approximately 3 ECTS, subject to the applicable Humboldt reloaded requirements and the final agreement with the supervisor).
Supervision and working arrangements
The project will combine regular supervisory meetings with independent literature work. Meetings will be used to discuss research questions, search strategies, article selection, data extraction, interpretation of results, and progress toward the final deliverables.
Students will receive guidance on scientific literature searching, critical reading, transparent documentation of methods, data organization, scientific writing, and presentation of research findings.
Proposed work plan
Phase 1 — Project introduction and planning: Define the research scope, develop research questions, and establish the literature review protocol.
Phase 2 — Literature search and screening: Search scientific databases, identify relevant publications, remove duplicates, and select eligible studies.
Phase 3 — Data extraction: Build a structured evidence table covering by-product types, composition, valorization technologies, applications, and reported outcomes.
Phase 4 — Comparative synthesis: Compare technologies and applications, evaluate the strength and limitations of the available evidence, and identify research gaps.
Phase 5 — Reporting and presentation: Complete the research report, prepare a scientific abstract and poster or presentation, and discuss the conclusions with the supervisor.
Expected deliverables
A documented literature search and selection process.
A structured database or evidence table of relevant scientific publications.
A comparative overview of sweet potato processing by-products and their potential valorization pathways.
A critical discussion of sustainability opportunities, technological limitations, and research gaps.
A final research report and a scientific poster or presentation.
The project will provide students with practical experience in research methodology and critical scientific thinking while contributing to a better understanding of the potential for circular and sustainable utilization of sweet potato processing by-products.
- Studienfach
- offen für alle Studienfächer
- Betreuende
- Dr. Fetriyuna Fetriyuna
- Institut
- Institut für Agrartechnik (440) (Food Engineering, Food Science and Technology, Food Science and Nutrition)
- Sprache
- englisch
- Teilnehmendenanzahl
- min. 1, max. 3
- Arbeitsaufwand
-
ca. 120 Stunden pro Teilnehmende:r
| 4
ECTS-Punkte
Arbeitsaufwand (Stunden und ggf. ECTS) sind ungefähre Angaben. Die tatsächlich vergebenen ECTS-Punkte ergeben sich aus der tatsächlich geleisteten Arbeit.
- Für dieses Projekt ist kein Motivationsschreiben des Studierenden erforderlich
- Projektart
- theoretisch/nicht experimentell
- Lernziele
-
Die Teilnehmende lernen in diesem Projekt:
Upon successful completion of the project, students will be able to:
Understand circular bioeconomy principles. Explain the concepts of circular bioeconomy, resource efficiency, and by-product valorization in the context of sweet potato processing.
Develop research questions. Formulate focused and scientifically relevant research questions concerning the utilization of sweet potato peels, starch-processing residues, and other processing by-products.
Conduct a structured literature search. Develop search strategies, identify relevant scientific publications, apply predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria, and document the literature selection process.
Extract and organize scientific evidence. Systematically collect and classify information on by-product characteristics, composition, valorization technologies, applications, and reported outcomes.
Critically evaluate scientific literature. Assess research methods, compare findings across studies, recognize limitations and uncertainties, and distinguish well-supported conclusions from preliminary evidence.
Analyze valorization pathways. Identify and compare potential applications of sweet potato processing by-products in food and feed, ingredient recovery, bioconversion, biomaterials, and other relevant bio-based products.
Integrate interdisciplinary perspectives. Relate food processing and biotechnology findings to resource efficiency, environmental sustainability, and economic feasibility where evidence is available.
Identify research gaps and future opportunities. Develop evidence-based recommendations for further research on sustainable and circular sweet potato processing.
Communicate scientific findings. Present the results of a literature review clearly and critically through scientific writing, visual representations, and an oral presentation or poster.
Work independently and collaboratively. Plan research activities, manage scientific references, document analytical decisions transparently, and contribute constructively to discussions with the supervisor and other students.
- Anmerkungen für Studierende
The scope of work can be adjusted before the project starts, according to the number of participants and depending on preferences and data generated from the scientific database
- Schlagworte
- sweet potato, circular economy, by-product valorization, value-added products, food processing residues, sweet potato peels, starch-processing residues, biomass utilization, sustainable food processing