Broccoli offers several health benefits due to its high content of bioactive compounds, especially sulforaphane – a promising anticancer compound. In Chile, the broccoli crop is expanding rapidly, creating opportunities to industrialize this vegetable and exploit its functional properties. Various processes have been studied with the aim of maximizing the sulforaphane content in processed broccoli using different dehydration methods. These have shown large differences in terms of recovery and cost. This work shows an economic feasibility study of a small‐scale plant for the production of sulforaphane‐rich broccoli flour considering three drying alternatives: tray drying (TD), pulsed fluidized‐bed drying, and freeze‐drying (FD). Freeze drying resulted in the highest sulforaphane content in the broccoli flour; however, this process entails the highest production cost. Tray drying showed the lowest production cost and a comparatively high sulforaphane content in the final product. Pulsed fluidized bed drying (PFBD) resulted in the highest sulforaphane loss. Although the three drying technologies resulted in positive net present values (NPV), the internal rate of return (IRR) was the lowest for freeze drying as a result of the high investment – over 20% higher than the investment required by the other alternatives. The NPV was practically independent of the drying technology when the sulforaphane content was considered in the estimation of the selling price. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

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智利一家生产富含萝卜硫烷的西兰花粉的小型工厂的经济评估

西兰花由于其高含量的生物活性化合物，特别是萝卜硫烷（一种有前景的抗癌化合物），具有许多健康益处。在智利，西兰花作物正在迅速扩大，为将这种蔬菜工业化并利用其功能特性创造了机会。为了利用不同的脱水方法使西兰花中的萝卜硫素含量最大化，已经研究了各种方法。这些在恢复和成本方面显示出很大的差异。这项工作显示了一家小型工厂的经济可行性研究，该工厂考虑了三种干燥替代方法：盘式干燥（TD），脉冲流化床干燥和冷冻干燥（FD），以生产富含萝卜硫烷的西兰花粉。冷冻干燥使西兰花粉中的萝卜硫素含量最高；然而，此过程需要最高的生产成本。托盘干燥显示出最低的生产成本，并且最终产品中萝卜硫烷含量较高。脉冲流化床干燥（PFBD）导致最高的萝卜硫素损失。尽管这三种干燥技术产生了正的净现值（NPV），但由于投资高，冷冻干燥的内部收益率（IRR）最低，比其他替代方案所需的投资高20％以上。当在销售价格估算中考虑了萝卜硫烷含量时，净现值实际上与干燥技术无关。©2020年化学工业协会和John Wiley＆Sons，Ltd 脉冲流化床干燥（PFBD）导致最高的萝卜硫素损失。尽管这三种干燥技术产生了正的净现值（NPV），但由于投资高，冷冻干燥的内部收益率（IRR）最低，比其他替代方案所需的投资高20％以上。当在销售价格估算中考虑了萝卜硫烷含量时，净现值实际上与干燥技术无关。©2020年化学工业协会和John Wiley＆Sons，Ltd 脉冲流化床干燥（PFBD）导致最高的萝卜硫素损失。尽管这三种干燥技术产生了正的净现值（NPV），但由于投资高，冷冻干燥的内部收益率（IRR）最低，比其他替代方案所需的投资高20％以上。当在销售价格估算中考虑了萝卜硫烷含量时，净现值实际上与干燥技术无关。©2020年化学工业协会和John Wiley＆Sons，Ltd 由于投资高，冷冻干燥的内部收益率（IRR）最低，比其他替代方案所需的投资高20％以上。当在销售价格估算中考虑了萝卜硫烷含量时，净现值实际上与干燥技术无关。©2020年化学工业协会和John Wiley＆Sons，Ltd 由于投资高，冷冻干燥的内部收益率（IRR）最低，比其他替代方案所需的投资高20％以上。当在销售价格估算中考虑了萝卜硫烷含量时，净现值实际上与干燥技术无关。©2020年化学工业协会和John Wiley＆Sons，Ltd