Techno-economic feasibility assessment of bacterial cellulose biofilm production during the Kombucha fermentation process

Abstract

Bacterial cellulose produced during Kombucha fermentation has recently received lots of attention owing to its desirable mechanical and physicochemical properties and is exploited for different food, textiles and environmental applications. However, lack of information on process feasibility often hinders large-scale manufacturing of Kombucha-based cellulose. Therefore, the current study assesses techno-economic feasibility of a 60-ton annual capacity Kombucha-based cellulose production facility using SuperPro designer. Economic feasibility analysis showed an estimation of 13.72 million US$ as total investment and 3.8 million US$ as operating costs with 89% expenses associated with facility dependent and labour costs. The process feasibility is revealed with a payback time of 4.23 years, 23.64% return on investment and 16.48% internal rate of return. Sensitivity analysis presented that increased volume of fermentation units and automating the process can significantly reduce input costs. Such research is necessary to aid policymakers in facilitating the commercialization of Kombucha-based cellulose at field scale.