Valorization of Plant-Based Agro-Waste, Tomato Pomace, into Potential Sustainable Food Packaging Materials: Techno-Economic Approach

The tomato processing industry is among the most widespread food industries worldwide, generating residues that pose an important issue due to their abundance and the rising negative environmental impacts associated with waste. This paper summarizes potential products that can be obtained from these sources, with a focus on the production of a specific biopolymer, cutin, which has great potential as a food packaging material. It emphasizes the development of an integration proposal model for the biorefinery process of tomato pomace, in line with the zero-waste concept, by performing comparative techno-economic analysis (TEA) of two processing scenarios: (1) a biorefinery pathway that valorizes tomato pomace utilization by producing cutin and (2) an integrated process designed for the simultaneous production of cutin and phenolic antioxidants. The study identifies current research gaps and outlines strategic directions for potential integration pathways that can enhance not only the economic viability and profitability of the process but also its environmental benefits through more complete. The techno-economic analysis model for cutin extraction showed an internal rate of return (IRR) of only 2%, which is five times lower than the IRR achieved in our integrated model for cutin and phenolic compounds. Additionally, the payback time in the integrated approach improved significantly from 9.56 to 5.7 years. This paper assesses the potential of tomato pomace as a sustainable source for the production of high-value bioproducts that can economically justify investments in sustainable bioprocessing technologies and reduce waste through an integrated approach.