UC Davis

ABSTRACT Almonds are a globally important food crop, and the processing of their kernels generates over 3 million metric tons of hulls annually—an abundant, sugar‐rich byproduct that remains underutilized. This study presents the first integrated technoeconomic analysis (TEA) and life cycle‐based sustainability assessment of almond hull hydrolysate (AHH) as a low‐cost and environmentally favorable fermentation growth medium. Compositional analysis of AHH revealed high concentrations of fermentable sugars (glucose, fructose, sucrose, and galacturonic acid) with negligible fermentation inhibitors, eliminating the need for detoxification. Commercial‐scale process simulations using SuperPro Designer estimated the minimum selling price (MSP) of AHH to range from $0.092 to $0.198/kg for the hydrochloric acid (HCl) process and from $0.171 to $0.279/kg for the citrate buffer (CB) process across internal rates of return (IRRs) from 5% to 25%. The HCl route consistently outperformed the CB process due to lower chemical costs and simplified operations. Cradle‐to‐gate LCA results further indicate that both AHH routes have substantially lower greenhouse gas emissions, fossil energy use, and water demand than conventional refined sugars such as glucose and sucrose. These findings demonstrate that valorizing almond hulls into fermentable sugars can reduce the environmental footprint and cost of microbial fermentation media. AHH thereby provides a scalable pathway to sustainable protein production, linking agricultural waste utilization with circular bioeconomy principles and supporting decarbonization of the food protein sector.