Abstract
Food waste has a great potential for resource recovery due to its huge yield and high organic content. Oriented fermentation is a promising method with strong application prospects due to high efficiency, strong robustness, and high-value products. Different fermentation types lead to different products, which can be shifted by adjusting fermentation conditions such as inoculum, pH, oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), organic loading rate (OLR), and nutrients. Compared with other types, lactic acid fermentation has the lowest reliance on artificial intervention. Lactic acid and volatile fatty acids are the common products, and high yield and high purity are the main targets of food waste fermentation. In addition to operational parameters, reactors and processes should be paid more attention to for industrial application. Currently, continuously stirred tank reactors and one-stage processes are used principally for scale-up continuous fermentation of food waste. Electro-fermentation and iron-based or carbon-based additives can improve food waste fermentation, but their mechanisms and application need further investigation. After fermentation, the recovery of target products is a key problem due to the lack of green and economic methods. Precipitation, distillation, extraction, adsorption, and membrane separation can be considered, but the recovery step is still the most expensive in the entire treatment chain. It is expected to develop more efficient fermentation processes and recovery strategies based on food waste composition and market demand.
Highlights
Food waste (FW) is produced from food processing in kitchens and factories, including waste raw materials and residual cooked food
For the FW discharged from restaurants, canteens, and households, lactic acid fermentation occurs naturally during its collection, transportation, and storage because it contains Lactobacillus derived from the surroundings, which even accounted for 47.9% of the total population [125]
FW is rich in degradable organic matter and has a great potential for resource recovery
Summary
Food waste (FW) is produced from food processing in kitchens and factories, including waste raw materials and residual cooked food. 870 million people are chronically undernourished, 1.3 billion to 1.6 billion tons of FW is generated every year around the world, the equivalent to one-third of total food production [2,3]. In China, the annual growth rate of FW is estimated to be more than 10% in recent years due to the acceleration of industrial development and urbanization [5]. The characteristics of FW from different sources vary largely because different regions and nations have their own unique food cultures. Overall, it usually contains a high content of water, biodegradable organic substances, and minerals. It is important to select a proper treatment method based on FW characteristics, aiming to recover energy or materials from FW and avoid its harmful effects
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