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Recent Advances in Biowaste Treatment—towards a Circular Bioeconomy

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2022) | Viewed by 9400

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Guneet Kaur

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Guest Editor

Department of Civil Engineering, Lassonde School of Engineering, York University, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada
Interests: bioprocess engineering; waste valorization; biorefinery; molecular microbiology; mathematical modelling and process optimization; in-situ product recovery

Prof. Dr. Mukesh Kumar Awasthi

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Guest Editor

College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Taicheng Road 3#,Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
Interests: soil fertility; composting; biochar; microbial diversity and technology
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The fulfilment of current sustainable development goals is based on material and energy efficiency, reduced waste generation and greenhouse gases emissions. This aligns perfectly with the concept of circular economy which has gained momentum in the recent years and is seen more than from a research perspective. Design and adoption of circular economy approaches which account for sourcing, production, consumption, disposal and reuse or recycling of resources is needed to fulfil the criteria of sustainable development. In this regard, bio-based sourcing of high value-added products from non-food and/or waste feedstocks has attracted a great deal of attention to fulfil the globally increasing resource requirement. Biowastes such as food waste, green waste, sewage sludge etc. have been increasingly generated in the recent years. For example, 880 million tonnes of food waste and green waste was generated from municipalities globally, as per the data from World Bank in 2018. Similarly, 75 million tonnes of sewage sludge was generated in 2013 which is expected to increase to 103 million tonnes by 2025. Such biowastes are significant contributors to greenhouse gases and therefore their biological treatment and/or use as feedstock in valorization technologies such as fermentation, anaerobic digestion, composting or vermicomposting etc. to produce valuable products solves the twin problems of biowaste management and high-value resource recovery. This special issue has been conceptualized to highlight some of the advances in this field.

We are interested in high quality research and critical review articles on the following topics:

- Carbon neutral technologies for treatment of biowaste.

- Bioprocessing of food waste via pure culture/mixed culture fermentation, anaerobic digestion, solid state fermentation, microalgae cultivation into high-value products.

- Renewable energy recovery from food waste and sludge.

- Strategies for composting/vermicomposting, conversion to animal feed etc. using food waste.

- Nutrient recovery and fermentation strategies using sludge.

- Pyrolysis approaches for organic waste treatment.

- Techno-economic and life-cycle assessment of organic waste treatment approaches.

Dr. Guneet Kaur
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

food waste
wastewater sludge
biorefinery
bioprocessing
sustainable development goals
resource recovery
bio-products
clean and affordable energy

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 2540 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Economical Di-Rhamnolipids Biosynthesis by Non-Pathogenic Burkholderia thailandensis E264 Using Post-Consumption Food Waste in a Biorefinery Approach

by Rajat Kumar, Davidraj Johnravindar, Jonathan W. C. Wong, Raffel Dharma Patria and Guneet Kaur

Sustainability 2023, 15(1), 59; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su15010059 - 21 Dec 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1335

Abstract

Rhamnolipids (RLs) are one of the most promising eco-friendly green alternatives to commercially viable fossil fuel-based surfactants. However, the current bioprocess practices cannot meet the required affordability, quantity, and biocompatibility within an industrially relevant framework. To circumvent these issues, our study aims to develop a sustainable biorefinery approach using post-consumption food waste as a second-generation feedstock. In-depth substrate screening revealed that food waste hydrolysate (FWH) was rich in readily assimilable carbohydrates, volatile fatty acids, and amino acids. The fermentative valorization of FWH as a sole carbon and energy source with Burkholderis thailandensis E264 in a bioreactor showed active RLs biosynthesis of up to 0.6–0.8 g/L (34–40 mg/g FWH) in a short duration (72 h). In terms of the kinetic parameters, the FWH-RLs outperformed other supplemented pure/waste streams. Interestingly, the recovered RLs had a long chain length, with Rha-Rha-C₁₂-C₁₄ being the predominant isoform and exhibiting a strong emulsification ability (E_24, 54.6%). To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to prove bioreactor-level RLs production and their abundance in food waste. Moreover, the feasibility of this developed process could propel next-generation biosurfactants, lower waste burdens, and increase the industrial applicability of RLs, thereby significantly contributing to the development of a circular bioeconomy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Biowaste Treatment—towards a Circular Bioeconomy)

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13 pages, 874 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of the Cultivation of Aspergillus oryzae on Organic Waste-Derived VFA Effluents and Its Potential Application as Alternative Sustainable Nutrient Source for Animal Feed

by Clarisse Uwineza, Taner Sar, Amir Mahboubi and Mohammad J. Taherzadeh

Sustainability 2021, 13(22), 12489; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su132212489 - 12 Nov 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2323

Abstract

Considering the projected demand for protein supplementation in animal feed, as well as prioritizing plant-based protein provision for the growing human population, great stress is imposed on conventional protein sources, calling for new sustainable alternatives. In this regard, the production and application of single-cell proteins (SCPs) has proven to be a promising alternative. Therefore, in this study, volatile fatty acids (VFAs) effluents recovered from anaerobically digested FW, CKM, CM, and their combinations were applied for the cultivation of edible filamentous fungi Aspergillus oryzae. The biomass was further evaluated considering its protein, fat and alkali insoluble material contents. The maximum fungal biomass yielded of 0.47 ± 0.00 and 0.37 ± 0.00 g dry biomass/g tVFAs_{CODeq.consumed}, with up to 47% protein and 5% fat content successfully cultivated in shake flasks and bench scale reactors, respectively. In addition to the production of protein-rich biomass, significant reductions in medium COD (25–58%) and ammonium (33–48%) were achieved. The results presented in this research work imply that using waste-derived VFAs for the production of animal feed grade SCP is an innovative approach that can contribute to the economy and sustainability of animal feed production process. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Biowaste Treatment—towards a Circular Bioeconomy)

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16 pages, 3662 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Bio-Mitigation of Carbon Dioxide Using Desmodesmus sp. in the Custom-Designed Pilot-Scale Loop Photobioreactor

by Abhishek Anand, Kaustubh Tripathi, Amit Kumar, Suresh Gupta, Smita Raghuvanshi and Sanjay Kumar Verma

Sustainability 2021, 13(17), 9882; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13179882 - 02 Sep 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2571

Abstract

Today’s society is faced with many upfront challenges such as the energy crisis, water pollution, air pollution, and global warming. The greenhouse gases (GHGs) responsible for global warming include carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (NO_x), water vapor (H₂O), and fluorinated gases. A fraction of the increased emissions of CO₂ in the atmosphere is due to agricultural and municipal solid waste (MSW) management systems. There is a need for a sustainable solution which can degrade the pollutants and provide a technology-based solution. Hence, the present work deals with the custom design of a loop photobioreactor with 34 L of total volume used to handle different inlet CO₂ concentrations (0.03%, 5%, and 10% (v/v)). The obtained values of biomass productivity and CO₂ fixation rate include 0.185 ± 0.004 g L⁻¹ d⁻¹ and 0.333 ± 0.004 g L⁻¹ d⁻¹, respectively, at 10% (v/v) CO₂ concentration and 0.084 ± 0.003 g L⁻¹ d⁻¹ and 0.155 ± 0.003 g L⁻¹ d⁻¹, respectively, at 5% (v/v) CO₂ concentration. The biochemical compositions, such as carbohydrate, proteins, and lipid content, were estimated in the algal biomass produced from CO₂ mitigation studies. The maximum carbohydrate, proteins, and lipid content were obtained as 20.7 ± 2.4%, 32.2 ± 2.5%, and 42 ± 1.0%, respectively, at 10% (v/v) CO₂ concentration. Chlorophyll (Chl) a and b were determined in algal biomass as an algal physiological response. The results obtained in the present study are compared with the previous studies reported in the literature, which indicated the feasibility of the scale-up of the process for the source reduction of CO₂ generated from waste management systems without significant change in productivity. The present work emphasizes the cross-disciplinary approach for the development of bio-mitigation of CO₂ in the loop photobioreactor. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Biowaste Treatment—towards a Circular Bioeconomy)

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18 pages, 2746 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Removal of Estradiol, Diclofenac, and Triclosan by Naturally Occurring Microalgal Consortium Obtained from Wastewater

by Farhat Bano, Anushree Malik and Shaikh Z. Ahammad

Sustainability 2021, 13(14), 7690; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13147690 - 09 Jul 2021

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 2300

Abstract

The occurrence of emerging contaminants like pharmaceutical drugs and personal care products in aquatic systems is now being identified as a potential risk to human health. Since conventional wastewater treatment systems are unable to remove them sufficiently, high concentrations of some of the commonly used drugs are reported to be occurring in many effluents. Microalgae-based systems have been investigated in recent years as an environmentally safe alternative to chemical oxidation methods for elimination of these emerging contaminants. Therefore, a process utilizing the microalgal consortium was assessed for its potential to tolerate environmentally high concentrations of pharmaceutical drugs and also to simultaneously remove the synthetic hormone estradiol, anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac, and antibacterial agent triclosan. The effective concentration with 50% mortality for the consortium was determined for each contaminant as 16, 8, and 8 mg L⁻¹ for estradiol, diclofenac, and triclosan, respectively. These three drugs were then spiked separately in algal growth media at effective concentration with 50% mortality, and the microalgal growth in presence of these drugs and the drug removal was monitored in shake-flask setup. The study shows substantial removal of estradiol 91.73% ± 0.0175, diclofenac 74.68% ± 0.0092, and triclosan 78.47% ± 0.015 by the microalgal consortium during their growth phase. Further, it was observed that degradation of the drugs by microalgae was the prominent removal mechanism and not adsorption. Estradiol and diclofenac did not show any immediate negative impacts on the microalgal growth as seen from the biomass and chlorophyll content measurements. However, triclosan proved detrimental to the microalgal growth as the consortium did not survive beyond 5 days after spiking. Promising results for emerging contaminants removal was obtained, and a treatment system can be designed to remove different drugs from wastewater by using the naturally occurring microalgal consortium. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Biowaste Treatment—towards a Circular Bioeconomy)

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