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Bio-Caproic acid, otherwise known as hexanoic acid, is a naturally occurring fatty acid found in various plant and animal sources.
It is a saturated fatty acid with six carbon atoms and a single carboxylic acid group at one end. It is an oily liquid at room temperature and has a slightly pungent smell.
Bio-caproic acid is used in a variety of applications, including food preservation, flavorings, and pharmaceuticals.
It is also used to produce a variety of esters, which are compounds made by reacting an organic acid with an alcohol. Bio-caproic acid can be found naturally in human sweat, cow’s milk, butter, and coconut oil.
It is also found in some fruits, such as apples, grapes, and oranges. As a food preservative, bio-caproic acid acts as an antimicrobial agent, slowing the growth of bacteria and fungi in food products. This prolongs the shelf life of food products and helps prevent spoilage.
Bio-caproic acid is also used as a flavoring agent in many products, including candy, chewing gum, ice cream, and baked goods. It has a mild, sweet taste and is often used to enhance the flavor of foods.
In the pharmaceutical industry, it is used to manufacture various drugs, such as antibiotics and antiseptics. Bio-caproic acid has a variety of important uses in the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries.
It is an important food preservative, flavoring agent, and pharmaceutical intermediate. Additionally, it is an important source of energy for the human body, making it a valuable nutrient.
The Global Bio-Caproic acid market accounted for $XX Billion in 2023 and is anticipated to reach $XX Billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of XX% from 2024 to 2030.
Utilizing mixed organic waste as a feedstock, a recently developed and executed industrial caproic acid production process was based on microbial fermentation, specifically chain elongation via reversed β-oxidation route.
There are many uses for capric acid. It can be used directly as antimicrobials, feed additives, and plant growth regulators. Additionally, it can serve as a precursor for a variety of products, such as paint additives, lubricants, perfumes, and medications.
These days, food crops like coconut and palm are used to make caproic acid, with less than 1% of the oil containing the compound. While food crops can yield commercially available caproic acid, the low caproic acid content of these crop oils results in a high price and a small market.
The maximum caproate production rate achieved by this process was 26 g/L/day, with a maximum concentration of 12.6 g/L. This caproate production rate is beneficial to the processes that follow and is comparable to the solubility of caproic acid in water.
Thus, a method for producing caproic acid utilizing ethanol and mixed organic waste was created. This method of producing caproic acid is appealing and useful for industry due to four factors: high caproate concentration, high caproate production rate, utilization of mixed organic waste, and ability to function in non-sterile conditions.
Thus, using this tested technology, a Wageningen University spin-off business has created a pilot-scale system that continually transforms ethanol and food processing waste into commercially viable capric acid.
By employing chain elongation to produce caproic acid from mixed organic waste, it seeks to measure the environmental effects of this process over its whole life and utilize the results to suggest necessary improvements.
In order to do this, an early stage, gate-to-gate, and attributional life cycle assessment (LCA) was carried out in order to measure the environmental impact related to the production of caproic acid.
This assessment was based on the caproic acid synthesis from mixed organic waste and ethanol, which is the current chain elongation business case. The outcome could serve as a base for comparing with other current methods or aid in locating “hotspots” for environmental effect throughout the life cycle of the organic waste-to-capric acid synthesis process.
