Shan He, Christopher MM Franco and Wei Zhang
The aim of this study was to analyze the economic feasibility of producing Fish Protein Hydrolysates (FPH) on an industrial scale using conceptual process simulation software, based on 3,900 tons of raw material, the maximum available annually in South Australia. The parameters of the microwave-intensified enzymatic process and the microwave-intensified chemical process, the two processes that we previously identified as the optimum to produce FPH with strong oil binding and emulsifying capacity, respectively, in laboratory-scale evaluations, were used to model a large scale simulation using Software Superpro Designer. The results of the simulation showed that the microwaveintensified chemical process is more profitable than the microwave-intensified enzymatic process when scaled up. The investment payback time and return on investment of the scaled up processes are both very sensitive to the purchase cost of raw material and selling price of fish protein hydrolysates. The food industry expects to get pay back on investment for producing FPH on an industrial scale in around 2 years. This study demonstrated that this aim is achievable by the combined contribution of the purchase cost of raw material (from USD 1/kg to USD 3/kg) and the selling price of FPH (from USD 20/kg to USD 40/kg). As both these parameters can be realized we are able to show the profitability of producing FPH on an industrial production.
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