Biomass Valorization: Sustainable Methods for the Production of Hemicellulolytic Catalysts from Thermoanaerobacterium thermostercoris strain BUFF

Ilaria Finore,Luigi Leone,Licia Lama,Ida Romano,Paola Di Donato,Annarita Poli,Barbara Nicolaus

doi:10.3390/resources10110115

Ilaria Finore, Luigi Leone + Show 5 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/resources10110115

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Abstract

Processing and selection of fruits and vegetables generate high quantities of wastes that represent an economic and environmental issue for the agroindustry sector. According to the so-called “biorefinery” approach, this biomass can be exploited for the recovery of value-added molecules. In this study, the residues of industrial processing of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum variety “Hybrid Rome”), fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), potato (Solanum tuberosum) and carrot (Daucus carota) were used as sole carbon sources to support cheap and sustainable microbial growth as well as the production of secondary metabolites (hydrogen and ethanol) by Thermoanaerobacterium thermostercoris strain BUFF, a thermophilic anaerobic microorganism isolated from buffalo-dung compost. Moreover, the use of hemicellulolytic enzymes of T. thermostercoris was assayed in the bioconversion reaction of the polymer fraction extracted from the rhizome of giant reed (Arundo donax) and of the leaves and stems of cardoon (Cynara cardunculus), dedicated non-food crops employed in energy supply.

Highlights

The circular economy is an alternative to the current linear, “make, use, dispose”, economy model, which aims to keep resources in use for as long as possible to extract the maximum value from them whilst in use and to recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of their service life
In the case of ethanol production, the maximum yield was found for cell growth conducted on carrot waste followed by growth on xylan. These results showed the ability of Thermoanaerobacterium thermostercoris strain BUFF to produce hydrogen and ethanol when grown by using agro-industrial vegetable wastes as main carbon sources
Of T. thermostercoris strain BUFF was comparable to those previously reported in T. therthermosaccharolyticum strain NOI-1 and T. saccharolyticum strain JW/SL-YS 485, of which mosaccharolyticum strain NOI-1 and T. saccharolyticum strain JW/SL-YS 485, of which the the crude enzyme exhibited 2.55 and 0.36 U/mg xylanase activity, respectively [39,40]

Summary

Introduction

The circular economy is an alternative to the current linear, “make, use, dispose”, economy model, which aims to keep resources in use for as long as possible to extract the maximum value from them whilst in use and to recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of their service life. It offers an opportunity to minimize the negative impacts of biomass’s exploitation while maximizing the benefits from vegetable wastes and providing environmental, economic and societal benefits [1]. Given the need to increase circularity of industrial systems to address limited resource availability, the development of the food waste biorefinery concept is welcome, taking into account several critical aspects related to the technical feasibility of the processes at an industrial scale and their techno-economic potential, including available quantities of waste and a life-cyclebased environmental assessment [2]. When we refer to agro-industrial wastes, we are taking into consideration both lignocellulosic biomass, such as agricultural and forest residues; dedicated non-food crops, both herbaceous and woody as well as starchy biomass, from agricultural processing wastes. Consumer chemicals, including acids, sugars and their derivatized forms, can be synthesized from agro-waste, with important results for nutraceutical and biomaterial applications [7]

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