Validation the sustainable production of bacterial cellulose through the use of waste materials, specifically SCOBY and plant residues from the kombucha production process.
SECTOR
FOOD COMPANY
CHALLENGE
KOMVIDA KOMBUCHA faced the callenge to explore new circular prosess for the Kombucha production. Currently, various sources of carbon and nitrogen are used for the production of CB. However, to reduce costs and promote the circular economy, cheaper alternatives based on agricultural waste are being evaluated. The challenge of the Up2Circ project has been to revalue the SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast) by-product and fruit plant remains to produce bacterial cellulose.
SOLUTION
The residues of plant remains serve as a substrate for the production of bacterial cellulose. In addition, the SCOBY culture remains from kombucha fermentation serve as inoculum for the fermentation of these plant remains and produce bacterial cellulose.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY STRATEGIES/BUSINESS MODEL IMPLEMENTED
Waste Valorization Process
– Collection and Selection: A system has been implemented to efficiently collect organic waste from fermented beverage factories, such as pulps, lees, and other by-products.
– Controlled Fermentation: Using this waste as a substrate, a controlled fermentation process with specific bacterial strains that produce cellulose has been carried out.
Long product life
– Efficient Resource Use by transforming waste into raw material, the need for additional resources has been reduced, thereby minimizing the environmental impact associated with the extraction and processing of conventional raw materials.
Sustainable Production
– Closed-Loop Cycle where waste is turned into useful products, contributing to a circular economy that benefits both the environment and the local economy.
Contribution to Sustainability
– Environmental Impact Mitigation by reducing the volume of waste sent to landfills and decreasing dependence on non-renewable raw materials, this solution actively contributes to mitigating the negative environmental impact associated with industrial production.
IMPACT
Environmental impact: reduction of 50%
Waste generated reduction from 300 Kg/week to 150 Kg/week
Improvement of the energy efficiency up to 20%, from 0,384 Kg/kWh to 0,4608 Kg/kWh
Emissions reduction of 23,32%, from 14,976 tons CO2/year to 11,483 tons CO2/year.
Economic impact
Total Market: 2.100.000.000€
Serviceable Available Market: 378.000.000€
Serviceable Obtainable Market: 94.500.000€
Social impact
Creation of new jobs in the company, up to 13,3%
KEY TAKEAWAY
- The feasibility study “Integral valorization of SCOBY kombucha under a circular economy model” is viable due to the ability to obtain bacterial cellulose in a sustainable way from fruit vegetable waste. Currently, these wastes are thrown away in the trash without giving any circularity or use.
- It is a sustainable and environmentally friendly process, since it collaborates against deforestation by presenting an alternative to the production of vegetable cellulose.
- The production costs of bacterial cellulose are lowered by using plant remains as a substrate instead of a source of glucose or sucrose.
- It is possible to obtain a trending product demanded by consumers and linked to the eco-friendly brand and sustainable product.
- The bacterial cellulose produced is characterized by a great diversity of microorganisms, which form randomly placed fibrils of great length, which gives it cohesion and mechanical resistance.
- The optimization of the purification process has allowed us to obtain a purity of 83%, which agrees with the high purity properties according to the literature.