Techno-economic assessment of edible fruit coating production from banana stem using pinch analysis

• Techno-economic analysis for edible fruit coating from banana stem. • Pinch analysis resulted 50% reduction in utility consumption. • Cost of edible coating is 0.257 US$/kg for 100 MT wet banana stem/day plant capacity. • Cost of edible coating is 0.462 US$/kg for 10 MT wet banana stem/day plant capacity. • Break-even point is less than 1 year for 100 MT wet banana stem/day plant capacity. Fruits and vegetables are prone to damage during post-harvest storage, with substantial economic losses. Edible fruit coating is a sustainable approach to extending their self-life without harming human health. Cellulose is an abundant biopolymer and is often used for edible coating formulation. This study presents a comprehensive techno-economic feasibility analysis for manufacturing cellulose-based edible fruit coating from 10 and 100 MT wet banana stem (WBS) per day. The process involves cellulose extraction from WBS, followed by cellulose conversion into a coating matrix, carboxymethyl-cellulose. Hemicellulose is further utilized for biogas generation by anaerobic digestion, which saves around 14% steam consumption. Processes are integrated using the pinch method, which reduces about 50% utility demand, translating to savings of 1.38% and 2.46% production costs and 0.75–1.2% and 1.78–2.34% minimum selling prices for 10 and 100 MT WBS/day, respectively. Production cost is much lower for 100 MT WBS/day (0.257 US$/kg) than 10 MT WBS/day (0.462 US$/kg) due to economics-of-scale benefits. The minimum selling price demonstrates that the proposed process is more profitable than existing marketed products for 10 MT WBS/day (0.54–0.86 US$/kg) and 100 MT WBS/day (0.28–0.36 US$/kg). However, profitability parameters are the most attractive for 100 MT WBS/day with more than 300% internal rate of return, 450 million US$ net present value, and less than a year break-even point. These inspiring results are pivotal for entrepreneurs investing in profitable edible fruit and vegetable coating businesses from WBS.