The influence of production processes on the price of Nisin

Nisin, also known as nisin streptococcus lactis, is a natural preservative whose production process significantly influences its price, as detailed below:

I. Fermentation Process

1. Strain Selection and Breeding

High-quality strains form the foundation for high nisin yield. Enterprises investing in strain breeding to screen high-yield, stable Lactococcus lactis strains can significantly enhance fermentation productivity. Increased yields reduce the production cost per unit, making the product price more competitive. Conversely, using ordinary strains results in lower yields, higher unit costs, and correspondingly higher prices.

2. Fermentation Condition Control

Precise control of parameters such as temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen during fermentation promotes nisin synthesis. Advanced process control systems that monitor and adjust these parameters in real time ensure optimal fermentation conditions, improving production efficiency while reducing energy and raw material consumption. This lowers production costs and product prices. Poor control of fermentation conditions may lead to incomplete fermentation and high impurity levels, increasing the difficulty and cost of subsequent separation and purification, thereby raising product prices.

II. Separation and Purification Process

1. Purity Requirements

Different application fields have varying purity requirements for nisin. The food industry typically requires lower purity, allowing the use of simpler separation and purification methods with lower costs, resulting in relatively affordable product prices. In contrast, industries such as pharmaceuticals and health products demand extremely high purity, necessitating complex techniques like chromatographic separation and ultrafiltration. These methods involve significant equipment investment and high operational costs, leading to a substantial increase in product prices.

2. Recovery Rate

Efficient separation and purification processes with high recovery rates maximize nisin extraction from fermentation broth. Low recovery rates mean processing more fermentation broth to obtain the same product quantity, increasing consumption of raw materials, energy, and equipment, which raises production costs and product prices.

III. Large-Scale Production

1. Cost Allocation

Mass production allows fixed costs (e.g., equipment purchase, factory construction) to be spread over a larger quantity of products, reducing the production cost per unit. When enterprises reach a certain production scale, they can secure more favorable prices for raw materials and energy, further enhancing cost advantages and lowering product prices. Conversely, small-scale production struggles to achieve effective cost allocation, resulting in relatively high product prices.

2. Production Efficiency

Large-scale production facilitates the adoption of automated and continuous production equipment and processes, improving efficiency while reducing manual intervention and production cycles. This not only lowers labor costs but also enhances product quality stability and market competitiveness, positively impacting product prices.

IV. Quality Control and Testing

1. Quality Standards

Strict quality control and testing are critical to ensuring nisin quality. Enterprises must establish comprehensive quality inspection systems to test products for purity, activity, microbial indicators, etc., requiring investments in human, material, and financial resources that increase production costs. Companies implementing higher quality standards may price their products higher than those with lower standards.

2. Testing Technologies

Advanced testing technologies provide more accurate quality assessments but often require expensive equipment and specialized personnel. While adopting such technologies improves product quality reliability, it also increases testing costs, thereby influencing product prices.