A review on characteristics of food waste and their use in butanol production

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Biobutanol offers several advantages and a larger market, that make it a biofuel to be studied with great interest. In fact, butanol has an energy content similar to that of gasoline, and it can be used as an alternative fuel to gasoline. It is a biofuel that is safe for the environment. The optimization of the production of butanol thus appears as an attractive option. Butanol production from food waste (FW) is a process for carbon recovery and a method for solid waste recycling. Recently, the use of FW and food processing waste (FPW) as raw material for the production of butanol has attracted much interest. However, an efficient fermentation process is vital to improve the production of biobutanol. To the best of our knowledge, no review on butanol production from FW has been presented so far. Thus, this review focuses on the characteristics of FW and its potential to produce butanol. In addition, the main factors that affect their use for the production of butanol are also discussed.</jats:p>

Towards continuous industrial bioprocessing with solventogenic and acetogenic clostridia: challenges, progress and perspectives

“…While basic research mainly relies on costly glucose [ 14 , 81 , 204 , 222 ], glycerol and crude glycerol [ 9 , 23 , 86 , 187 ], the historical ABE fermentation process mainly utilizes sugar- and starch-rich first-generation feedstocks such as sugarcane, molasses and maize [ 92 , 103 , 212 ]. Alternative feedstocks offering a high potential are food and agricultural waste [ 2 , 75 , 236 , 237 ], lignocellulosic biomass [ 54 , 117 , 137 , 203 ], and liquid waste streams, for instance of the pulp and paper industry [ 102 ] (see Table 4 ). Waste streams and lignocellulosic feedstocks are abundant, cheap and not in competition with food production [ 201 ].…”

“…The use of alternative feedstocks is more sustainable and offers a lower carbon footprint by saving the waste streams from incineration and thereby decreasing the greenhouse gas emissions [ 32 , 95 ]. The European Commission estimated around 88 million tons of food waste produced in Europe which equals 3.3 Gt of CO 2 per year [ 2 , 25 , 274 ]. Food waste is defined as a waste of restaurants, canteens, and the food processing industry [ 2 , 85 ].…”

“…The European Commission estimated around 88 million tons of food waste produced in Europe which equals 3.3 Gt of CO 2 per year [ 2 , 25 , 274 ]. Food waste is defined as a waste of restaurants, canteens, and the food processing industry [ 2 , 85 ]. Food waste mainly contains sugar and starch but also a large portion of fibers [ 2 , 85 ].…”

“…Food waste is defined as a waste of restaurants, canteens, and the food processing industry [ 2 , 85 ]. Food waste mainly contains sugar and starch but also a large portion of fibers [ 2 , 85 ]. Agricultural residues and plant-based biomass are also called second-generation feedstocks as they mainly contain lignocellulose [ 209 ].…”

“…However, there are clostridia which can directly utilize starch, such as C. acetobutylicum NRRL B-591 and Clostridium beijerinckii BA101 [ 68 , 71 , 145 , 184 ]. Therefore, food wastes are easily accessible and do not require expensive pretreatment [ 2 , 113 ]. Conversely, feedstocks with a high lignocellulosic fraction such as wheat straw, corn stover, rice straw and cassava bagasse (see Table 4 ) require a pretreatment to release the sugars for conversion [ 32 , 203 ].…”