Evaluación técnico-económica del proceso de producción de glutamato monosódico por la ruta fermentativa utilizando bagazo de caña de azúcar.

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is one of the most widely used additives in commercial foods worldwide. In the present work, the preliminary techno-economic evaluation of a technological proposal for the production of MSG by the fermentation route was carried out, using sugarcane bagasse as the main raw material and under the current economic conditions of Cuba. For that, the professional simulator SuperPro Designer® version 10 was used. The plant has a production capacity of 3.85 tons of MSG crystals per year. It will be necessary to invest around USD $ 8.75 million to build the proposed production plant. Annual Net Profits of USD $ 2,004,000, a Gross Margin of 44.91% and a Return on Investment of 22.90% were obtained. Based on the results obtained from the Net Present Value (USD $ 6,723,000), the Internal Rate of Return (25.23%) and the Payback Time (4.37 years), it can be concluded that the production plant is profitable and feasible from the economic point of view. The technological proposal begins to be not profitable from a value of the bagasse unit cost of USD $ 45.4/kg. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]