Food waste especially for perishable fruit is highly problematic for a global society that continues to grow in population. Coating fruit is one such approach to minimize waste. To assess economic and environmental risks and opportunities of a novel fruit-coating solution before industrial deployment is pursued, an industrial-scale process model was developed based on an optimized experimental process to produce soy protein isolate-cellulose nanocrystal bionanocomposite coating for perishable fruits (avocado for this study). Techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment were carried out to understand the financial viability and the environmental performance of the soy protein isolate-cellulose nanocrystal fruit coating solution production process at the commercial scale. The estimated minimum selling price of soy protein isolate-cellulose nanocrystal fruit coating solution was $0.59/kg, which is competitive with existing fruit coating solutions (e.g., solvent-based wax). The minimum cost of applying a coating to avocado fruit was approximately $0.01/fruit. A sensitivity analysis indicated that the estimated economic outcomes were still favorable, even when raw material costs, tax rate, and project’s lifetime were varied by ±50%, with soy protein isolate costs having the largest impact on the estimated measures of profitability. The cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment results indicated that an industrial-scale soy protein isolate-cellulose nanocrystal fruit coating solution production process estimates a carbon footprint of 0.33 kg CO eq/kg of solution produced which is higher than the water-based wax solution and lower than the solvent-based wax solution.

中文翻译：

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生产大豆蛋白-纤维素基生物纳米复合水果涂层的经济和环境分析

对于人口持续增长的全球社会来说，食物浪费，尤其是易腐烂水果的食物浪费是一个严重问题。给水果涂上涂层就是一种减少浪费的方法。为了在工业部署之前评估新型水果涂层解决方案的经济和环境风险和机遇，基于优化的实验工艺开发了工业规模的工艺模型，用于生产用于易腐烂水果（牛油果）的大豆分离蛋白-纤维素纳米晶体生物纳米复合涂层对于本研究）。进行了技术经济分析和生命周期评估，以了解商业规模的大豆分离蛋白-纤维素纳米晶体水果涂层溶液生产工艺的财务可行性和环境绩效。大豆分离蛋白-纤维素纳米晶水果涂层溶液的最低售价预计为0.59美元/公斤，与现有的水果涂层溶液（例如溶剂型蜡）相比具有竞争力。在鳄梨果实上涂敷涂层的最低成本约为每个水果 0.01 美元。敏感性分析表明，即使原材料成本、税率和项目寿命变化±50%，估计的经济结果仍然有利，其中大豆分离蛋白成本对估计的盈利能力影响最大。从摇篮到大门的生命周期评估结果表明，工业规模的大豆分离蛋白-纤维素纳米晶体水果涂层溶液生产过程的碳足迹估计为 0.33 kg CO eq/kg 生产的溶液，高于水基蜡溶液并低于溶剂型蜡溶液。