(418bs) Techno-Economic Analysis of the Antioxidants Production from Fruits Under a Biorefinery Concept

Colombia is a country with a high potential in the production of tropical fruits. The marketing of this kind of products has growing because of the interest on the natural products by the consumers (Moncada, Tamayo, & Cardona, 2014).This fact has led to the increment of the demand of fruits and vegetable species.Among them, the components with high antioxidant capacity, since they delay or prevent different deceases, have gained special interest (Moncada et al., 2014).

The antioxidants are compounds recognized by its ability to delay the oxidation of the molecules present in the cellular structure of the microorganisms.These compounds can be found most of the times in small quantities in natural matrix.Different types of molecules are known by their antioxidant capacities such as the lycopene, the anthocyanins and vitamin C and vitamin E, among others. They can delay and prevent different disease as Alzheimer, cardiovascular and neurological disease, cancer and others. (Anila & Vijayalakshmi, 2003)

The Theobromagrandiflorum(copoazu)is an Amazonian fruit used usually to produce juices, desserts and jams pulps. The seeds and skin are residues with no currently use in other different activities. The copoazu pulp is rich in phosphor, pectin and vitamin C. A high amount of lignin is found in the skin and seeds of thecopoazu, other compounds as lipids can be found in the seeds.(HERNÁNDEZ & BARRERA, 2004)

The aim of this work is to propose a biorefinery to obtain antioxidants from Copoazu (Theobromagrandiflorum) in order to fully use the raw material. The biorefinery concept consistson obtaining different products from a natural source as a raw material.The raw material was characterized and the supercritical extraction of the antioxidants compounds was experimentally developed at 50-60°C and 300 bar. The extracts were characterized with the FollinCiocalteu and DPPH methods(Brand-Williams, Cuvelier, & Berset, 1995; Cerón, Higuita, & Cardona, 2012)

Furthermore, the biorefinery was designed and evaluated from the techno economic and environmental points of view, using the software Aspen plus v8.0 and the WAR methodology.

The economic and environmental analysis shows that better results are obtained when the production schemes are integrated to the additional products. The best production is achieved when was made an energy and mass integration.