Abstract
Abstract Black liquor from paper and pulp mills is an underutilized waste resource. Black liquor can be valorized due to its useful chemical fractions and water component that can be employed for the pretreatment and biochemical conversion of starchy potato waste (SPW) into bioethanol. Hence, in this study, the simultaneous co-valorization, detoxification, and fermentation of SPW and black liquor (without the addition of freshwater and chemicals) were optimized for bioethanol production. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) clearly confirmed the distortion of SPW inherent structure for the recovery of useful carbohydrates. A significant reduction in process inhibitors (furfural = 1.26-fold, hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) = 5.68-fold, and phenols = 1.03-fold) was observed with CuO NP inclusion. The response surface methodology (RSM) model of the bioethanol production showed a high coefficient of determination (R 2 ) value of 0.98. The optimized process with CuO NP inclusion displayed a biomass and bioethanol concentrations of 2.12 g/L and 21.37 g/L corresponding to 1.74- and 1.68-fold improvement over the control respectively. In addition, the kinetic data showed that the incorporation of CuO nanoparticle (NP) significantly improved (1.86-fold) the potential maximum bioethanol concentration (Pm) (20.21 g/L) compared to the control experiment (10.86 g/L). The study demonstrates a 100% freshwater conservation approach for improved sugar recovery, remarkable inhibitor removal, and bioethanol production from pretreated SPW towards reduced biofuel production cost, waste management, and green environment sustainability.
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call