Avaliação técnica - econômica da produção de lactase pela fermentação do permeado de soro de leite utilizando a levedura kluyveromyces marxianus ATCC 36907

Abstract

With the advances in microbial biotechnology, the use of whey permeate has become a good alternative because it is a cheap and available substrate for obtaining βgalactosidase, also known as lactase. This enzyme is widely used by the pharmaceutical industry to produce medicines foxr patients who have lactose intolerance, while in the food industry it is used for the hydrolysis of lactose. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate the production of β-galactosidase by submerged fermentation from the whey permeate substrate. The feasibility study is important, as there is an increase in the industrial demand for lactase and, as a result, the need for studies that make the production of this enzyme feasible. The enzymes were synthesized by yeast k. marxianus ATCC 36907 at a temperature of 40 ºC in 12 hours. The technical-economic evaluation for the production of enzymes on an industrial scale considered the availability of whey permeate from a dairy industry in western Paraná considering two volumes of bioreactors of 10 m3 and 100 m3. For the 10 m3 bioreactor, a payback of 20 years and 3 months was obtained, NPV of R $ -15,024,651, TIR 6.84%, TIRM -8.00% and IL -0.95%, whereas the bioreactor of 100 m3 a payback of 19 years and 3 months, NPV of R $ -132,239,927, TIR 7.38%, TIRM -9.00% and IL -0.93%. Based on the surveys carried out and the construction of the cash flow for the implantation and operation of a lactaseproducing plant from whey permeate, the study was not shown to be attractive when considering a 20% TMA. The project did not show technical and economic viability due to the return time. However, when considering a TMA of 5% for both volumes of the bioreactors, the NPV was positive, being attractive from the economic point of view.