Abstract
In recent years, interest in the biorefinery concept has emerged in the utilization of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) produced by acidogenic fermentation as precursors for various biotechnological processes. This has attracted substantial attention to VFA production from low-cost substrates such as organic waste and membrane based VFA recovery techniques to achieve cost-effective and environmentally friendly processes. However, there are few reviews which emphasize the acidogenic fermentation of organic waste into VFAs, and VFA recovery. Therefore, this article comprehensively summarizes VFA production, the factors affecting VFA production, and VFA recovery strategies using membrane-based techniques. Additionally, the outlook for future research on VFA production is discussed.
Highlights
The increase in global population size, economic growth, and urbanization development has led to massive generation of organic waste, often including sewage sludge (SS) from wastewater treatment plants, municipal solid waste, and animal manure (AM).This causes unsanitary conditions that affect human health and exacerbates environmental pollution worldwide
This paper provides a comprehensive review of the production of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) from organic waste, factors influencing acidogenic fermentation, with the emphasis on the use of membrane based VFA recovery techniques to make acidogenic fermentation more economically feasible and environmentally benign
Lactate production can be classified into two types based on the products: homohomolactate fermentation lactate fermentation hetand heterolactate fermentation (acetate or ethanol are produced as co-products in the erolactate fermentation system) through the phosphoketolase pathway and bifidus pathway [64,67]
Summary
The increase in global population size, economic growth, and urbanization development has led to massive generation of organic waste, often including sewage sludge (SS) from wastewater treatment plants, municipal solid waste, and animal manure (AM) This causes unsanitary conditions that affect human health and exacerbates environmental pollution worldwide. VFAs, including acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, caproic acid, and valeric acid, are produced as the final products of acidogenic fermentation in the anaerobic digestion process. These compounds are reported to be the most critical precursors in the biorefinery concept. Potentially important ideas regarding the ongoing development of this technology are highlighted
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
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
