Techno-economic assessment of processing the cellulose casings waste

Regarding the developed countries, most of the meat products are packed into cellulose, respectively collagen casings. Minor defects or inaccuracies in threading of the shirred casings on the filling machines result in hundreds of meters of extremely lightweight waste. The logistics of such a waste is costly and other expenses are linked with the ongoing processing of the waste-landfilling. Two other methods of waste management of the cellulose casings (anaerobic fermentation and pyrolysis) were biotechnologically analyzed and financially assessed in a commercial scale. The results obtained confirm that, regardless of the chemical nature, the surface treatment technology of the casings significantly hampers the biodegradability. This makes the fermentation technologies time consuming and therefore economically unworkable. Intensive disintegration techniques are therefore necessary. However, the solid residue of the pyrolysis (also called biochar) represents more attractive product.