title: Economic analysis and environmental impact assessment of three different fermentation processes for fructooligosaccharides production.
abstract: Three different fermentation processes for the production of fructooligosaccharides (FOS) were evaluated and compared in terms of economic aspects and environmental impact. The processes included: submerged fermentation of sucrose solution by Aspergillus japonicus using free cells or using the cells immobilized in corn cobs, and solid-state fermentation (SSF) using coffee silverskin as support material and nutrient source. The scale-up was designed using data obtained at laboratory scale and considering an annual productivity goal of 200 t. SSF was the most attractive process in both economic and environmental aspects since it is able to generate FOS with higher annual productivity (232.6 t) and purity (98.6%) than the other processes; reaches the highest annual profit (6.55 M€); presents the lowest payback time (2.27 years); and is more favourable environmentally causing a lower carbon footprint (0.728 kg/kg, expressed in mass of CO2 equivalent per mass of FOS) and the lowest wastewater generation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 67, 2628 BC Delft, The Netherlands. Electronic address: S.I.Mussatto@tudelft.nl.
authors.forename: Solange I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Mussatto
authors.affiliation: CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal.
authors.forename: Luís M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Aguiar
authors.affiliation: CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal.
authors.forename: Mariana I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Marinha
authors.affiliation: CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal.
authors.forename: Rita C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Jorge
authors.affiliation: CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal.
authors.forename: Eugénio C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Ferreira
mesh_terms: D001230:Aspergillus / Q000378:metabolism; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods*; D002244:Carbon / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D018914:Cells, Immobilized; D004777:Environment; D005285:Fermentation; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000191:economics*; D013395:Sucrose / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D009844:Oligosaccharides; C116580:fructooligosaccharide; D013395:Sucrose; D002244:Carbon
keywords: Coffee silverskin; Economic analysis; Environmental impact; Fructooligosaccharides; Solid-state fermentation