Techno-economic assessment of co-production of edible bioplastic and food supplements from Spirulina
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s41598-023-37156-3.pdf
Description
Published version
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2.37 MB
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Author(s)
Chalermthai, Bushra
Charoensuppanimit, Pongtorn
Nootong, Kasidit
Olsen, Bradley D
Assabumrungrat, Suttichai
Date Issued
June 22, 2023
Journal
Scientific Reports
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Citation
Chalermthai, B., Charoensuppanimit, P., Nootong, K. et al. Techno-economic assessment of co-production of edible bioplastic and food supplements from Spirulina. Sci Rep 13, 10190 (2023).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Large amount of plastic wastes harming the environment have raised concerns worldwide on finding alternatives to non-biodegradable plastics. Microalgae has been found as a potential source for bioplastic production, besides its more common application in the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industry. In this study, the objective was to techno-economically evaluate the large-scale co-production of Spirulina powder as food supplements and edible bioplastic for food packaging. The scale of production was large enough to satisfy 1% of local (Thailand) plastic demand (i.e., approx. 1200 MT y−1), and 1% of the global Spirulina demand (approx. 1000 MT y−1) as food supplements. Results showed that the co-production of the Spirulina powder and bioplastic revealed an attractive venture with a payback time (PBT) as low as 2.6 y and ROI as high as 38.5%. This was because the revenues generated were as high as US$ 55.6 million y−1, despite high capital (US$ 55.7 million) and operating (US$ 34.9 million y−1) costs. Sensitivity analysis showed differences in the profitability based on variations of major parameters in the study, where the split ratio of biomass used for food supplement versus bioplastic production and the bioplastic’s selling price were found to be the most sensitive.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-37156-3
