Economic comparison of food protein production with single-cell organisms from lignocellulose side-streams

Abstract

In recent years, the cellular agriculture concept has been proposed as an option to replace livestock proteins. This study presents a conceptual level techno-economic analysis of four concepts where food is produced by microorganisms based on wheat straw. Three single-cell proteins and one recombinant protein process were conceptualized. The process included steam explosion pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, fermentation, and downstream processing. The enzymatic hydrolysis was optimized to minimize the production costs. The minimum protein selling price was determined by net present value using the discounted cash-flow method, which was compared to respective animal and plant proteins. The minimum protein selling prices were 5160–9007 €/ton proposing the processes to be in the feasible range, but the processes still require further development. The sensitivity of the parameters was estimated by sensitivity analysis, which revealed the most critical components in the production to be capacity, investment, interest, and enzyme and raw material costs.