The biorefinery concept for the industrial valorization of pineapple leaves co-producing ethanol, citric acid, and xanthan gum: a techno- economic analysis

Processing pineapple field residues (PR), a significant waste from the pineapple industry, into multiple value-added products based on the biorefinery concept can reduce waste disposal and contribute to sustainable development goals. Although PR has been used to produce several added-value products, the production of ethanol, citric acid, and xanthan gum, with its economic feasibility at an industrial scale, has not been investigated so far. The present study evaluates the viability of a biorefinery process of PR by performing a comparative techno-economic analysis of three processing scenarios: (1) a whole biorefinery process that fully utilizes PR biomass and produces ethanol, citric acid, and xanthan gum (E + CA + XG) (2) a process that produces CA and XG, and (3) a process that produces only E. A plant capacity of 4 metric tons/hour was considered in the analysis to mimic an intensive pineapple plantation size. Each processing scenario was modeled using SuperPro Designer, and the economic performance was evaluated based on the internal rate of return (IRR), net present value (NPV), and payback period. Among the three scenarios, the whole biorefinery process (CA + XG + E) showed the highest techno- economic performance with the net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), and payback period of 122.3 million US-$, 34.8%, and 3.5 years, respectively, due to the diverse revenues and minimized waste disposal cost. On the other hand, the E plant showed the lowest economic performance with a negative NPV.