📋 Case Study
Food-Grade Citric Acid Fermentation Upgrade — Cargill Decatur
High steam demand for sterilization and evaporation; mycelial waste sent to landfill; citrate recovery <72% due to precipitation inefficiencies
🏗️ Project Overview
Modernization of Aspergillus niger fermentation and downstream processing
🎯 Challenge
High steam demand for sterilization and evaporation; mycelial waste sent to landfill; citrate recovery <72% due to precipitation inefficiencies
🔧 Design Approach
Installed solar thermal preheating + mechanical vapor recompression (MVR); implemented enzymatic cell lysis and ion-exchange resin regeneration with CO₂ stripping
📐 Design Diagram
AI-generated project design illustration
📐 Key Calculations
Steam Reduction Ratio
Pre-MVR Steam / Post-MVR Steam
Result: 1.0 → 0.38
Primary energy intensity KPI
Mycelial Waste Valorization Yield
Protein Extract / Dry Biomass × 100
Result: 68%
Converts liability into animal feed co-product revenue
📊 Results
Steam use cut by 62%; mycelial waste diverted 100% to value stream; overall process yield increased to 89%💡 Lessons Learned
- •MVR payback improves dramatically when paired with low-carbon thermal preheat
- •Resin regeneration with CO₂ avoids NaOH waste and simplifies wastewater treatment
✅ Key Takeaways
- 1MVR payback improves dramatically when paired with low-carbon thermal preheat
- 2Resin regeneration with CO₂ avoids NaOH waste and simplifies wastewater treatment