Technical-economic evaluation of obtaining lucuma and grape oil with the use of Supercritical Fluid.

There is a concern about the waste generated by the grape and lucuma processing industries, and one way to solve it is to revalue such waste. Therefore, the objective of this research is to carry out a technical and economic evaluation of obtaining lucuma and grape oil with the use of Supercritical Fluid from grape pomace and lucuma seed. The methodology consists of characterizing the raw material (grape pomace and lucuma seed), obtaining grape and lucuma oil, optimizing the process and finishing with the economic evaluation with the Super Pro Designer v.10 simulator of a production plant of 1750 Kg/batch. The results have shown that the optimal parameters for the extraction of lucuma oil, are given at 312 atm pressure and 45°C, with a CO2 flow of 8 ft3/h, with a yield of 2.84%, and for the extraction of grape oil is given at a pressure of 450 bar and 60°C, and a CO2 flow of 5 ft3/h, which gives a yield of 6.86%. The plant capacity of 1750 kg/batch generates: An annual operating cost of $ 3,761,000, profit margin of 43.57%, return on investment of 31. 95%, capital recovery time of 3.13 years and an IRR of 24.77% and NPV (at 7% discount rate) at $ 8,604,000. With these economic indicators opens the possibility of transforming and marketing the grape pomace and lucuma seed.