OEDFS: Optimizing extraction and drying parameters for fungal food supplements

By integrating smart sensors, automated controls, and remote monitoring, OEDFS significantly enhances productivity while reducing energy and resource consumption. The project delivers a state-of-the-art solution that minimizes manual intervention, improves workplace safety (including ATEX compliance), and ensures consistent high-quality outputs. With these innovations, OEDFS supports a greener, more competitive, and digitally advanced approach to natural supplement production—setting a new standard for sustainable processing in the food and pharmaceutical sectors.

Challenge 

The OEDFS project tackled key challenges in the production of high-quality fungal food supplements, focusing particularly on the inefficiencies and limitations of traditional extraction and drying methods. Prior to this project, these processes were labour-intensive, energy-consuming, and difficult to monitor and control precisely.

One of the main issues was the lack of automation and real-time process control, which led to inconsistent product quality, excessive resource consumption (especially energy and water), and increased operational risks. Additionally, manual oversight posed significant occupational safety concerns and limited scalability for industrial applications.

Addressing these challenges was essential for improving sustainability, ensuring regulatory compliance, and enhancing the competitiveness of the natural supplements sector. By integrating smart automation, sensor-based monitoring, and digital twin technologies, the OEDFS project introduced an innovative and scalable solution that supports a greener, safer, and more efficient production environment for medicinal fungi extracts.

Solution

The OEDFS project delivered an innovative, fully automated extraction and drying system designed specifically for producers of fungal food supplements. This advanced system integrates modern technologies such as smart sensors, programmable controls, and remote monitoring to manage every step of the process— from extraction to drying— with minimal manual intervention.

What sets the OEDFS solution apart is its ability to precisely control key parameters (like temperature, humidity, pressure, and pH) in real time, ensuring consistent product quality and maximum extraction of valuable compounds. The system is designed to be energy-efficient, safe (including ATEX-compliant for explosive environments), and user-friendly.

Additionally, a digital twin and cloud-based platform were developed, allowing operators to monitor and adjust processes remotely, store and analyse data, and receive automated alerts. This digital upgrade significantly reduces labour, increases reliability, and enhances traceability— making it a cutting-edge solution for sustainable, scalable production of high-value natural supplements.

Impacts 

The OEDFS project achieved significant quantitative and qualitative impacts across sustainability, productivity, and safety:

• Energy Efficiency: The newly developed system led to a 45% reduction in energy consumption during the drying process, compared to traditional methods. This was achieved through optimized temperature and humidity control, as well as improved heat recovery.
• Water Use Reduction: Water consumption during extraction was reduced by 30%, thanks to the closed-loop design and real-time monitoring of process parameters.
• Productivity Gains: Automation of key operations cut manual labour requirements by over 60%, allowing operators to focus on quality control and system oversight instead of repetitive tasks.
• Improved Product Quality: By maintaining precise process conditions, the system ensures higher consistency and potency of fungal extracts, which is crucial for health supplements and pharmaceutical applications.
• Enhanced Safety: With ATEX-compliant components and integrated safety features, the system greatly reduces fire and explosion risks in potentially hazardous environments.
• Digitalization Impact: The use of a digital twin and remote monitoring platform enabled real-time oversight, predictive maintenance, and data-driven decision-making—advancing digital transformation in the sector.
• Market and Business Impact: The improved process scalability and cost-efficiency make it easier for small and medium-sized enterprises to enter or grow within the high-value natural supplements market.

These results demonstrate how OEDFS contributes to a cleaner, safer, and more competitive production environment while advancing the EU’s goals for digitalization and green transition.

What's next? 

Following the successful pilot, the next steps for the OEDFS project include:

• Commercialisation: Scaling up production and launching the automated extraction and drying system to the market, targeting SMEs in the food supplement and pharma sectors.
• Partnership Development: Expanding collaboration with manufacturing partners and distributors to support market entry.
• Digital Twin Services: Further development of the digital twin platform into a service model, offering remote monitoring, data analytics, and predictive maintenance.
• Regulatory Expansion: Preparing documentation and certifications for broader EU and global market compliance.
• Next-Phase R&D: Exploring advanced extraction technologies and integrating AI-driven optimization for process control and sustainability.

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