It's worth noting that over one million tons of food processing waste (FPW) are produced yearly in Taiwan, including soybean residues, spent coffee grounds, and tea leaf residues. These by-products have low economic value and high-water content, so proper disposal is critical to avoid environmental concerns. To tackle this issue, a project has been undertaken to develop strategies for reducing plant-based by-products of Taiwan's food industry. The project involves investigating and analyzing the core issues of domestic FPW and learning from world-leading companies. Two FPW reduction technologies will be developed, including an energy-efficient drying technology for FPW and a biotransformation microbial library for the domestic environmental protection industry to treat FPW. The project has already achieved notable milestones, such as (1) compiling relevant information on domestic and overseas FPW, conducting questionnaire research, and visiting food and beverage manufacturers and recycling companies to understand the current status and experience in dealing with FPW. As a result, we provided the report containing the roadmap and strategy for reducing plant-based by-products of Taiwan's food industry. (2) Additionally, the project has established three drying techniques for treating soybean residues, spent coffee grounds, and tea leaf residues. The water activity of dried soybean residues, spent coffee grounds, and tea leaf residues are all ≦0.6, and the moisture content is 2.7-12.6%; the specific energy consumption (SCE) is 0.81~7.67kWh/kgH2O. According to the test results, impingement flow drying is the most suitable high-efficiency and energy-saving drying technology for soybean residues, spent coffee grounds and tea leaf residues. The drying condition is a hot air temperature of 120-130°C. Compared with traditional hot air drying technology, it can shorten drying time by 83.7~86.7% and reduce energy consumption by 39.8%~57.5%. (3) Finally, a microbial resource bank with biotransformation of food processing wastes was established in the project. The bank involved more than 40 strains for degradation of biomass, 5 for deodorization and 1 for perfumed-producing ability. Moreover, A combination of strain T04, with its ability to convert the odour and another strain SC3, with perfumed-producing ability, were used to ferment wet tea dregs, which could solve the problem of prolonged storage and odour, on the other hand, reduce the cost of waste treatment and increase the fragrance, this technology is ideal for the application of cat litter products

Radio frequency drying, Infrared drying, Impingment drying, Food processing wastes, Biotransformation