Current trends in waste valorization

This paper presents the scientific breakthroughs made in bioprocess engineering and microbial biotechnology for the conversion of wastes into products with added value and/or biofuels. The significant results obtained in the emerging fields of hybrid electrosynthesis, the role of enzymes in the degradation of plastics, polyhydroxyalkanoate and 5-aminolevulinic acid production, fermentation technology and the application of molecular engineering tools to bioprocess technology are highlighted.     

木质素的微生物解聚与高值转化

木质纤维素是地球上最丰富的可再生资源。我国每年产生约9亿吨农业秸秆,因得不到有效利用,不仅造成资源浪费,也产生了诸多严峻的环境问题。缺少木质素的高效降解和资源化利用技术是限制木质纤维素产业化的主要瓶颈之一。虽然木质素的降解与转化多年来一直都受到关注,但是由于木质素结构的复杂性及异质性,使其高效利用受限。近年来,微生物具有的“生物漏斗”式转化特性为木质素的高值转化和利用提供了新方向。本文就生物质利用研究以来,微生物在木质素解聚与转化方面的研究历程与最新进展进行了简要的回顾与总结,并初步讨论了目前木质素高值转化面临的机遇与挑战。     

Microbial diversity in support of anaerobic biomass valorization

Microbial diversity provides an immense reservoir of functions and supports key steps in maintaining ecosystem balance through matter decomposition processes and nutrient recycling. The use of microorganisms for biomolecule production is now common, but often involves single-strain cultures. In this review, we highlight the significance of using ecosystem-derived microbial diversity for biotechnological researches. In the context of organic matter mineralization, diversity of microorganisms is essential and enhances the degradation processes. We focus on anaerobic production of biomolecules of interest from discarded biomass, which is an important issue in the context of organic waste valorization and processing. Organic waste represents an important and renewable raw material but remains underused. It is commonly accepted that anaerobic mineralization of organic waste allows the production of diverse interesting molecules within several fields of application. We provide evidence that complex and diversified microbial communities isolated from ecosystems, i.e. microbial consortia, offer considerable advantages in degrading complex organic waste, to yield biomolecules of interest. We defend our opinion that this approach is more efficient and offers enhanced potential compared to the approaches that use single strain cultures.     

生物炼制过程中木质素高值转化研究进展

木质素高值转化对于提升生物炼制经济性,促进社会经济绿色发展具有重要意义。然而,木质素结构复杂且不均一,其高值化利用仍存在技术壁垒,使得木质素应用尚未形成规模。文中首先综述了当前生物炼制过程中木质素高值转化面临的主要挑战。然后通过比较不同预处理技术对木质素分离、性质及其利用的主要影响,详细阐述了基于生物炼制理念发展的新型组合预处理技术。其次,针对木质素本征结构特性导致其利用效率低等问题,进一步详述了溶剂分级、膜分级、梯度沉淀分级等分级利用策略对克服木质素不均一性,改善其可加工性能的重要影响。再次,针对木质素利用策略,系统比较了木质素热化学转化和生物转化,结合生物质预处理及木质素分级,阐述了以生物炼制理念进行木质素高值转化的新策略。最后,总结了木质素利用过程中存在的挑战性问题,展望了木质素高效分离、分级及转化过程发展的新策略和新趋势。     

Virginia mallow (Sida hermaphrodita (L.) Rusby) as perennial multipurpose crop: biomass yields,energetic valorization,utilization potentials,and management perspectives

This article reviews the scholarly literature dealing with the perennial multipurpose crop Virginia mallow (Sida hermaphrodita (L.) Rusby; Sida in the following). In regions dominated by intensive agricultural management practices, growing Sida holds the potential to combine ecosystem services such as decreasing soil erosion, reducing nitrate leaching as well as enhancing biodiversity, with economic profit for the farmer. After promising biomass yields of Sida were reported from studies performed in Poland about 15 years ago, the interest in this plant species has continuously increased, and different utilization pathways were examined, predominantly by researchers in Poland and Germany. At present, however, a comprehensive overview that summarizes the different lines of research performed regarding the use of Sida is lacking. This review aims at closing this gap. After providing background information on Sida, we summarize the main results obtained from investigations concerning biomass yields, fertilization effects, key findings concerning direct combustion, biogas production, steam gasification, phytoremediation, and alternative utilization pathways. Thereafter, we highlight important aspects of Virginia mallow cultivation practices, including first estimates regarding the costs involved. Finally, we point to existing research gaps. Summarizing the available literature on Sida, we aim at raising the interest of scientists and farmers in this plant species further and to show where future research might tie in with, as the successful cultivation of Sida might represent a worthwhile strategy to transform current agricultural practices in Central Europe into approaches that are more sustainable and resilient against future challenges.     

New horizons in culture and valorization of red microalgae

Research on marine microalgae has been abundantly published and patented these last years leading to the production and/or the characterization of some biomolecules such as pigments, proteins, enzymes, biofuels, polyunsaturated fatty acids, enzymes and hydrocolloids. This literature focusing on metabolic pathways, structural characterization of biomolecules, taxonomy, optimization of culture conditions, biorefinery and downstream process is often optimistic considering the valorization of these biocompounds. However, the accumulation of knowledge associated with the development of processes and technologies for biomass production and its treatment has sometimes led to success in the commercial arena. In the history of the microalgae market, red marine microalgae are well positioned particularly for applications in the field of high value pigment and hydrocolloid productions. This review aims to establish the state of the art of the diversity of red marine microalgae, the advances in characterization of their metabolites and the developments of bioprocesses to produce this biomass.     

Microbial valorization of underutilized and nonconventional waste streams

The growing burden of waste disposal coupled with natural resource scarcity has renewed interest in the remediation, valorization, and/or repurposing of waste. Traditional approaches such as composting, anaerobic digestion, use in fertilizers or animal feed, or incineration for energy production extract very little value out of these waste streams. In contrast, waste valorization into fuels and other biochemicals via microbial fermentation is an area of growing interest. In this review, we discuss microbial valorization of nonconventional, aqueous waste streams such as food processing effluents, wastewater streams, and other industrial wastes. We categorize these waste streams as carbohydrate-rich food wastes, lipid-rich wastes, and other industrial wastes. Recent advances in microbial valorization of these nonconventional waste streams are highlighted, along with a discussion of the specific challenges and opportunities associated with impurities, nitrogen content, toxicity, and low productivity.     

Metabolic engineering for valorization of macroalgae biomass

Marine macroalgae have huge potential as feedstocks for production of a wide spectrum of chemicals used in biofuels, biomaterials, and bioactive compounds. Harnessing macroalgae in these ways could promote wellbeing for people while mitigating climate change and environmental destruction linked to use of fossil fuels. Microorganisms play pivotal roles in converting macroalgae into valuable products, and metabolic engineering technologies have been developed to extend their native capabilities. This review showcases current achievements in engineering the metabolisms of various microbial chassis to convert red, green, and brown macroalgae into bioproducts. Unique features of macroalgae, such as seasonal variation in carbohydrate content and salinity, provide the next challenges to advancing macroalgae-based biorefineries. Three emerging engineering strategies are discussed here: (1) designing dynamic control of metabolic pathways, (2) engineering strains of halophilic (salt-tolerant) microbes, and (3) developing microbial consortia for conversion. This review illuminates opportunities for future research communities by elucidating current approaches to engineering microbes so they can become cell factories for the utilization of macroalgae feedstocks.     

Cascaded valorization of seaweed using microbial cell factories

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Biomass pretreatments capable of enabling lignin valorization in a biorefinery process

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Strategies for recycling and valorization of grape marc

Grapes are one of the most cultivated fruit crops worldwide. Either for wine or juice production, grape processing generates a large amount of residues that must be treated, disposed of or reused properly to reduce their pollution load before being applied to the soil. In this review, a special focus is given to the treatment and valorization of the winemaking by-product like grape marc via anaerobic digestion, composting and vermicomposting at laboratory, pilot, and industrial scales. The impact of the final products (digestates, composts, and vermicomposts) on soil properties is briefly addressed. Moreover, the role of grape marc and seeds as a valuable source of natural phytochemicals that include polyphenols and other bioactive compounds of interest for pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and food industries is also discussed. This is of paramount importance given the fact that sustainability requires the use of management and valorization strategies that allow the recovery of valuable compounds (e.g. antioxidants) with minimum disposal of waste streams.     

Integral valorization of two legumes by autohydrolysis and organosolv delignification

Two woody legumes species (Chamaecytisus proliferus L.F. ssp. palmensis and Leucaena diversifolia) were evaluated for integrally exploitation. The raw material was subjected to autohydrolysis under variable operating conditions which provided a liquid phase rich in hemicellulose oligomers and a solid phase that was used to obtain cellulose pulp and paper sheets by using organosolv procedures. The chemical properties of both C. proliferus and L. diversifolia allow their integral exploitation by using a hydrothermal treatment prior to their organosolv pulping with ethanol. The pulp yields obtained are quite high (40.3% for L. diversifolia and 58.2% for C. proliferus), and so are the sugar concentrations in the liquors from the thermal pretreatment (viz. 16.1 and 20.0 g oligomers/l in C. proliferus and L. diversifolia, respectively, and 1.5 and 1.1g xylose/l, respectively, in the two raw materials). The strength-related properties of the paper sheets obtained are acceptable (tensile index 7.76 and 10.77 kN m/kg for C. proliferus and L. diversifolia, respectively and kappa index 31 and 12.5 for C. proliferus and L. diversifolia, respectively), but somewhat worse than those provided by other raw materials such as eucalyptus; however, they can be improved by mechanical refining of the pulp.     

Biogas production and valorization by means of a two-step biological process

The scope of this research work was to investigate biogas production and purification by a two-step bench-scale biological system, consisting of fed-batch pulse-feeding anaerobic digestion of mixed sludge, followed by methane enrichment of biogas by the use of the cyanobacterium Arthrospira platensis. The composition of biogas was nearly constant, and methane and carbon dioxide percentages ranged between 70.5–76.0% and 13.2–19.5%, respectively. Biogas yield reached a maximum value (about 0.4 m³_biogas/kgCOD_i) at 50 days-retention time and then gradually decreased with a decrease in the retention time. Biogas CO₂ was then used as a carbon source for A. platensis cultivation either under batch or fed-batch conditions. The mean cell productivity of fed-batch cultivation was about 15% higher than that observed during the last batch phase (0.035 ± 0.006 g_DM/L/d), likely due to the occurrence of some shading effect under batch growth conditions. The data of carbon dioxide removal from biogas revealed the existence of a linear relationship between the rates of A. platensis growth and carbon dioxide removal from biogas and allowed calculating carbon utilization efficiency for biomass production of almost 95%.     

A physicochemical-biotechnological approach for an integrated valorization of olive mill wastewater

An integrated physicochemical-biotechnological approach for a multipurpose valorization of olive mill wastewaters was studied. More than 60% of the wastewater natural polyphenols were recovered through a solid phase extraction procedure, by employing Amberlite XAD16 resin as the adsorbent and ethanol as the biocompatible desorbing phase. Thereafter, the dephenolized effluent was fed to a mesophilic anaerobic acidogenic packed-bed biofilm reactor for the bioconversion of the organic leftover into volatile fatty acids (VFAs). A VFAs concentration of 19 gCODL(-1) was obtained, representing more than 70% of the COD occurring in the anaerobic effluent. The biotechnological process was assessed by means of bio-molecular analyses, which showed that the reactor packed bed was mostly colonized by bacteria of the Firmicutes phylogenetic group. The biorefinery scheme developed in this study allowed the obtainment of 1.59 g of polyphenols per liter of wastewater treated and 2.72 gCODL(-1) day(-1) of VFAs.     

Integral valorization of Leucaena diversifolia by hydrothermal and pulp processing

Wood from the leguminous tree, Leucaena diversifolia, was subjected to hydrothermal treatment (autohydrolysis) at 160-180 °C for 0-30 min followed by ethanol-soda-anthraquinone delignification. The liquid phase contained 18.65 g of sugars per liter, and the solid phase had a gross heating value of 19.083 MJ/kg, but could also be used as a source of cellulose pulp for the production of paper with tear, burst, and tensile indexes of 2.4 N m²/kg, 2.6 MPa m²/kg and 40.7 kN m/kg, respectively. L. diversifolia lends itself readily to valorization for energy production, and also to integral, fractional exploitation by autohydrolysis and ethanol-soda-anthraquinone delignification, which can additionally bring environmental benefits to cropping zones.