Bio-Based Support for Trypsin Immobilization: Cost and Environmental Perspectives

Abstract Enzyme immobilization remains as a pivotal strategy for enhancing the sustainability and economic viability of biocatalytic processes, yet the gap between academic developments and industrial implementation persists due to the lack of standardized tools for early-stage techno-economic and environmental assessment. This work presents a comprehensive technical, economic, and environmental evaluation of trypsin immobilized on a novel biobased epoxy foam, alongside the proposal of a new decision-making indicator─the Minimum Recycle Number─designed to connect catalytic performance with economic feasibility. The immobilized system developed exhibited excellent catalytic properties, including an activity recovery of 82%, operational stability retaining over 80% activity after 10 reuse cycles, and storage stability of up to 86%–88% over 45 days under ambient conditions. The techno-economic analysis, based on SuperPro Designer simulations and standard cost estimation methodologies, revealed a manufacturing cost of 61.50 USD/kg, with enzyme loading identified as the most influential variable on economic viability, followed by process scale and activity recovery. The proposed indicator effectively prioritized these variables and established that the immobilized system becomes economically competitive within 17–27 recycles under realistic scenarios, well within industrially achievable ranges. The environmental assessment (Life Cycle Assessment methodology trough ISO 14044) identified epoxy resin production as the main hotspot, contributing significantly to climate change (4.64 kg CO2 eq) and fossil depletion (2.21 kg oil eq) per kg of an immobilized biocatalyst. These findings demonstrate that the proposed indicator serves as a robust and versatile tool for bridging laboratory-scale developments with industrial applications, while the environmental analysis provides critical insights for designing more sustainable immobilization strategies through the substitution of fossil-based components with biodegradable alternatives.