20 - Biofuel production from food wastes

Abstract

Increasing demand for diesel fuel and growing concerns over global warming and crude oil shortage have advanced the development of renewable alternative fuels with low greenhouse gas emissions. Finding new uses for waste has renewed interests for the solution to the constraints of a resource system. One third of food produced globally for human consumption is lost along the food supply chain, which is almost all currently landfilled or incinerated. However, food waste has a significant potential to be employed as a raw material for the production of biofuel through various fermentation processes due to its organic- and nutrient-rich contents. The food waste characters and management have been extensively investigated, and valorization of food waste to biofuels is considered as the most promising strategy. Apart from the management of food waste, this strategy can reduce dependency on crude oil, which has an opportunity to stabilize food prices as well as address society's behavior toward food waste. This chapter is aimed at providing an overview of the current food waste situation, characters and managements, and the most innovative uses of food waste as feedstock for biofuels production. We focus on examples illustrating the fermentation technologies for use of food waste to the production of various kinds of biofuels, such as biodiesel, ethanol, hydrogen, and methane.