The application of a trigeneration system to fruit conservation food-industry is studied. The economic and environmental benefits of the installation are analyzed by means of multi-objective optimization which takes into account operational costs of the system and greenhouse gas emissions. A contrast between the minimization of these two objectives is shown and thus different operative strategies are devised. Taken a practical case of the trigeneration load required by an industrial site in north-west of Italy where measurements of load profiles are available, different combined heat and power engines with and without a thermal energy storage system are studied and results are discussed. General considerations about the advantages of the proposed solutions are also presented. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.