Enriched microbial consortia for dark fermentation of sugarcane vinasse towards value-added short-chain organic acids and alcohol production

Operational and biochemical aspects of co-digestion (co-AD) from sugarcane vinasse, filter cake, and deacetylation liquor

This work performed co-AD from the vinasse and filter cake (from 1G ethanol production) and deacetylation liquor (from the pretreatment of sugarcane straw for 2G ethanol production) in a semi-Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor (s-CSTR) aiming to provide optimum operational parameters for continuous CH₄ production. Using filter cake as co-substrate may allow the reactor to operate throughout the year, as it is available in the sugarcane off-season, unlike vinasse. A comparison was made from the microbial community of the seed sludge and the reactor sludge when CH₄ production stabilized. Lactate, butyrate, and propionate fermentation routes were denoted at the start-up of the s-CSTR, characterizing the acidogenic phase: the oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) values ranged from -800 to -100 mV. Once the methanogenesis was initiated, alkalizing addition was no longer needed as its demand by the microorganisms was supplied by the alkali characteristics of the deacetylation liquor. The gradual increase of the applied organic load rates (OLR) allowed stabilization of the methanogenesis from 3.20 g_VS L^-1 day^-1: the highest CH₄ yield (230 mL_NCH₄ g^-1_VS) and average organic matter removal efficiency (83% ± 13) was achieved at ORL of 4.16 g_VS L^-1 day^-1. The microbial community changed along with the reactor operation, presenting different metabolic routes mainly due to the used lignocellulosic substrates. Bacteria from the syntrophic acetate oxidation (SAO) process coupled to hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis were predominant (~ 90% Methanoculleus) during the CH₄ production stability. The overall results are useful as preliminary drivers in terms of visualizing the co-AD process in a sugarcane biorefinery integrated to scale. KEY POINTS: • Integration of 1G2G sugarcane ethanol biorefinery from co-digestion of its residues. • Biogas production from vinasse, filter cake, and deacetylation liquor in a semi-CSTR. • Lignocellulosic substrates affected the biochemical routes and microbial community. • Biomol confirmed the establishment of the thermophilic community from mesophilic sludge.

Resource recovery from sugarcane vinasse by anaerobic digestion - A review

The increase in biofuel production by 2030, driven by the targets set at the 21st United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21), will promote an increase in ethanol production, and consequently more vinasse generation. Sugarcane vinasse, despite having a high polluting potential due to its high concentration of organic matter and nutrients, has the potential to produce value-added resources such as volatile fatty acids (VFA), biohydrogen (bioH₂) and biomethane (bioCH₄) from anaerobic digestion. The objective of this paper is to present a critical review on the vinasse treatment by anaerobic digestion focusing on the final products. Effects of operational parameters on production and recovery of these resources, such as pH, temperature, retention time and type of inoculum were addressed. Given the importance of treating sugarcane vinasse due to its complex composition and high volume generated in the ethanol production process, this is the first review that evaluates the production of VFAs, bioH₂ and bioCH₄ in the treatment of this organic residue. Also, the challenges of the simultaneous production of VFA, bioH₂ and bioCH₄ and resources recovery in the wastewater streams generated in flex-fuel plants, using sugarcane and corn as raw material in ethanol production, are presented. The installation of flex-fuel plants was briefly discussed, with the main impacts on the treatment process of these effluents either jointly or simultaneously, depending on the harvest season.

Effect of initial pH and substrate concentration on the lactic acid production from cassava wastewater fermentation by an enriched culture of acidogenic microorganisms

Recently, cassava processing wastewater has been considered an alternative substrate for lactic acid production due to its appreciable carbohydrate levels. The authors carried out different batch reactor trials aiming to favor the production of lactic acid through the fermentation of non-sterilized cassava wastewater by an enriched culture of acidogenic microorganisms. To this end, the impact of different initial pHs (4.5, 5.0, 5.7, 6.5, and 7.0) and different initial substrate concentrations (10, 15.8, 30, 44.2, and 50 g/L) in terms of glucose on lactic acid production yield (Y) was evaluated by applying the design of experiment (DoE) known as central composite rotatable design (CCRD). The highest rate of lactic acid production (40 g/L) occurred with an initial pH of 6.5 and an initial substrate concentration of 50 g/L. The maximum yield was higher in trials T1, T2, T4, T5, and T8, reaching values of 0.80, 0.62, 0.60, 0.96, and 0.70 g/g, respectively. The maximum lactic acid productivity (P), of 0.60 and 0.73 g L^-1  hr^-1 , was observed in trials T5 and T8, respectively. The enriched culture of acidogenic microorganisms was shown to favor the production of lactic acid, since the production of other acids, such as acetic and propionic acid, did not exceed 3.5 and 4.5 g/L, respectively. © 2020 Water Environment Federation PRACTITIONER POINTS: Cassava wastewater presented potential to lactic acid production. The CCRD showed that highest lactic acid concentrations (40 g/L). The adoption of cassava wastewater or manipueira as a substrate resulted in important information on the tendency to obtain value-added products such as lactic acid.

Current trends for distillery wastewater management and its emerging applications for sustainable environment

Ethanol distillation generates a huge volume of unwanted chemical liquid known as distillery wastewater. Distillery wastewater is acidic, dark brown having high biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, contains various salt contents, and heavy metals. Inadequate and indiscriminate disposal of distillery wastewater deteriorates the quality of the soil, water, and ultimately groundwater. Its direct exposure via food web shows toxic, carcinogenic, and mutagenic effects on aquatic-terrestrial organisms including humans. So, there is an urgent need for its proper management. For this purpose, a group of researchers applied distillery wastewater for fertigation while others focused on its physico-chemical, biological treatment approaches. But until now no cutting-edge technology has been proposed for its effective management. So, it becomes imperative to comprehend its toxicity, treatment methods, and implication for environmental sustainability. This paper reviews the last decade's research data on advanced physico-chemical, biological, and combined (physico-chemical and biological) methods to treat distillery wastewater and its reuse aspects. Finally, it revealed that the combined methods along with the production of value-added products are one of the best options for distillery wastewater management.

Screening and Bioprospecting of Anaerobic Consortia for Biofuel Production Enhancement from Sugarcane Bagasse

The genera Dysgonomonas, Coprococcus, Sporomusa, Bacteroides, Sedimentibacter, Pseudomonas, Ruminococcus, and Clostridium predominate in compost residue, and vadimCA02, Anaerobaculum, Tatlockia, Caloramator, and Syntrophus prevail in soil used as inoculum in batch rectors. This mixed consortium was used as inoculum for biogas production using different concentrations of sugarcane bagasse (SCB) (from 1.58 to 4.42 g/L) and yeast extract (YE) (from 0.58 to 3.42 g/L) according to a composite central design. The maximum ethanol production (20.11 mg L^-1) was observed using 2.0 and 3.0 g L^-1 of YE and SCB, respectively (C6). Likewise, the highest hydrogen production (0.60 mmol L^-1) was observed using 3.0 and 4.0 g L^-1 of YE and SCB, respectively (C1). Methane was also observed, reaching the maximum production (1.44 mmol L^-1) using 1.0 and 4.0 g L^-1 of YE and SCB, respectively (C2). The archaeal similarity between these conditions was above 90%; however, the richness and diversity were higher in the C2 (12 and 2.42, respectively) than in C1 (5 and 1.43, respectively) and C6 (11 and 2.29, respectively). Equally, the bacterial similarity between C1 and C6 was 60% while richness of 24 and 17 and diversity of 3.13 and 2.81 were observed in C1 and C6, respectively.

Assessment of upstream bioprocessing

Depending on the purpose and use, bioprocesses are carried out in order to reduce, maintain or increase the molar O/C ratio of biomass as the initial substrate. Cascade use considers the holistic and efficient use of biomass. In the current debate of biomass use, however, one may admit that an efficient use of biomass can further be based on the maintenance of initially present molar O/C ratio and functionality. In this regard, what compound should be formed that possesses highest functionality and similar molar O/C ratio as the substrate? How much energy should be spent on bioprocesses for the conversion of biomass under aerobic or anaerobic conditions? This study discusses and contributes to the efficiency assessment of aerobic and anaerobic bioprocesses based on chemical functionality and molar O/C ratio and their scale-depended energy need for creating appropriate environmental conditions for biological agents.