Abstract
BackgroundEnvironmental issues and shortage of fossil fuels have turned the public interest to the utilization of renewable, environmentally friendly fuels, such as ethanol. In order to minimize the competition between fuels and food production, researchers are focusing their efforts to the utilization of wastes and by-products as raw materials for the production of ethanol. household food wastes are being produced in great quantities in European Union and their handling can be a challenge. Moreover, their disposal can cause severe environmental issues (for example emission of greenhouse gasses). On the other hand, they contain significant amounts of sugars (both soluble and insoluble) and they can be used as raw material for the production of ethanol.ResultsHousehold food wastes were utilized as raw material for the production of ethanol at high dry material consistencies. A distinct liquefaction/saccharification step has been included to the process, which rapidly reduced the viscosity of the high solid content substrate, resulting in better mixing of the fermenting microorganism. This step had a positive effect in both ethanol production and productivity, leading to a significant increase in both values, which was up to 40.81% and 4.46 fold, respectively. Remaining solids (residue) after fermentation at 45% w/v dry material (which contained also the unhydrolyzed fraction of cellulose), were subjected to a hydrothermal pretreatment in order to be utilized as raw material for a subsequent ethanol fermentation. This led to an increase of 13.16% in the ethanol production levels achieving a final ethanol yield of 107.58 g/kg dry material.ConclusionsIn conclusion, the ability of utilizing household food waste for the production of ethanol at elevated dry material content has been demonstrated. A separate liquefaction/saccharification process can increase both ethanol production and productivity. Finally, subsequent fermentation of the remaining solids could lead to an increase of the overall ethanol production yield.
Highlights
Environmental issues and shortage of fossil fuels have turned the public interest to the utilization of renewable, environmentally friendly fuels, such as ethanol
Lignocellulosic biomass represents great potential to be utilized as raw material due to the high amounts produced every year [7], and can be derived from woody or agricultural residues such as wheat straw, corn cobs, bagasse, rice straw, et cetera
Taking into account that the total quantity of household food wastes (HFW) for the EU-27 during 2006 is estimated to be 37.7 Mt, which accounts for approximately 76 kg per capita and represents 42% of the total amount of food wastes generated in the EU [11], it is clear that they represent a challenge concerning their disposal, as well as an attractive raw material for the production of biofuels
Summary
Environmental issues and shortage of fossil fuels have turned the public interest to the utilization of renewable, environmentally friendly fuels, such as ethanol. Household food wastes are being produced in great quantities in European Union and their handling can be a challenge. Their disposal can cause severe environmental issues (for example emission of greenhouse gasses). Taking into account that the total quantity of HFW for the EU-27 during 2006 is estimated to be 37.7 Mt, which accounts for approximately 76 kg per capita and represents 42% of the total amount of food wastes generated in the EU [11], it is clear that they represent a challenge concerning their disposal, as well as an attractive raw material for the production of biofuels. Most of the research dedicated to HFW utilization was focused on biogas production
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