Aplicação da mecânica dos fluídos computacional na otimização das condições de cura de queijos tradicionais

The production of traditional handmade cheeses represents a repository of knowledge and acquired experiences across generations creating a cultural, historical and gastronomical heritage of great value that must be preserved and respected. In the last decades a change has been observed from the traditional ripening houses to the modern ripening rooms, as a consequence of legal obligations but also conditioned by the market demands. Nevertheless, this change has occurred suddenly with no supporting studies to secure the maintenance of the ancestral origins and in many cases difficulties have been witnessed keeping the required homogeneity inside the ripening room. Under the scope of the priority domains of ENEI, but also of EREI-Alentejo, has been created the Consortium “CFD4CHEESE - Application of computational fluid dynamics in the optimization of traditional cheeses ripening conditions” Including local partners, Polytechnic Institutes, Research centres and public administration. With this Consortium it is expected to obtain a detailed knowledge regarding the production of traditional ewe?s cheese in Alentejo, a larger knowledge of the social tissue around, evaluate the economic potential, characterize the environmental parameters inside the ripening room and evaluate its influence on the properties of the final product (Task 1). After, will be applied the concepts of Computational Fluid Dynamics on the study of the main environmental parameters inside the ripening room, making this the first step towards the homogenization of ripening conditions (Task 2). After the CFD application, a prototype of a new ripening room will be developed with the ability to adjust its own operation depending on the load of cheeses inside (Task 3), creating microclimate depending on cheese production and, thus, making possible the highest possible quality (EREI Alentejo “Food and Forestry”). In the next step, an economical study will be developed comparing the operational costs of the new prototype with the conventional systems (Task 4), where it is expected a reduction on both operational costs and environmental impact using the new prototype (EREI Alentejo “Critical Technologies, Energy and Intelligent Mobility”). Finally, the innovative nature of the project requires a suitable disclosure of the main results, especially next to local partners, students, consumers and scientific community (Task 5).