Microwave pre-treatment of model food waste to produce short chain organic acids and ethanol via anaerobic fermentation

Serena Simonetti; Claudia Fernandez Martin; Davide Dionisi

doi:10.3390/pr10061176

Microwave pre-treatment of model food waste to produce short chain organic acids and ethanol via anaerobic fermentation

Serena Simonetti, Claudia Fernandez Martin, Davide Dionisi^* (Corresponding Author)

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

As an alternative to conventional anaerobic digestion for methane production, anaerobic fermentation (AF) of organic matter can produce short chain organic acids (SCOAs) in a sustainable way. This study investigated the effect of microwave (MW) pre-treatment on the AF of model food waste to SCOAs and ethanol. The MW pre-treatment was investigated at three temperatures (120, 150 and 180 °C) and residence times (2, 5 and 8 min). The MW treatment gave a significant reduction in the pH and volatile suspended solids (VSS). The largest reduction in the VSS was 20%, indicating solubilisation of the organic matter. The latter was also confirmed by the increase, although it was not statistically significant, in the soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD) and soluble carbohydrates. In the fermentation batch tests, the total product yield was higher (17.5% COD COD−1) than for the untreated substrate (11.1% COD COD−1). An electricity price of GBP 0.06 kWh−1 would correspond to the market value of the additional SCOAs produced with the pre-treated substrate. Although this price is lower than the current business price of electricity in the UK, the MW pre-treatment could become economically feasible with scale-up effects and by using free excess electricity coming from renewable resources.

Original language	English
Article number	1176
Number of pages	14
Journal	Processes
Volume	10
Issue number	6
Early online date	12 Jun 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/pr10061176
Publication status	Published - 12 Jun 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding
This study was funded by LEVERHULME TRUST. Serena Simonetti, a Leverhulme Trust Doctoral Scholar, is part of the 15 PhD scholarships of the “Leverhulme Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Production of Chemicals and Materials” at the University of Aberdeen (Scotland, UK).

Keywords

anaerobic fermentation
food waste
pre-treatment
microwave
SCOAs
anaerobic digestion

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.3390/pr10061176Licence: CC BY

Simonetti_etal_P_iIcrowave_Pre-treatment_Of_VoR
Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Final published version, 6.49 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{a10a24df8ba14ec3995d55d73b2564f6,

title = "Microwave pre-treatment of model food waste to produce short chain organic acids and ethanol via anaerobic fermentation",

abstract = "As an alternative to conventional anaerobic digestion for methane production, anaerobic fermentation (AF) of organic matter can produce short chain organic acids (SCOAs) in a sustainable way. This study investigated the effect of microwave (MW) pre-treatment on the AF of model food waste to SCOAs and ethanol. The MW pre-treatment was investigated at three temperatures (120, 150 and 180 °C) and residence times (2, 5 and 8 min). The MW treatment gave a significant reduction in the pH and volatile suspended solids (VSS). The largest reduction in the VSS was 20%, indicating solubilisation of the organic matter. The latter was also confirmed by the increase, although it was not statistically significant, in the soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD) and soluble carbohydrates. In the fermentation batch tests, the total product yield was higher (17.5% COD COD−1) than for the untreated substrate (11.1% COD COD−1). An electricity price of GBP 0.06 kWh−1 would correspond to the market value of the additional SCOAs produced with the pre-treated substrate. Although this price is lower than the current business price of electricity in the UK, the MW pre-treatment could become economically feasible with scale-up effects and by using free excess electricity coming from renewable resources.",

keywords = "anaerobic fermentation, food waste, pre-treatment, microwave, SCOAs, anaerobic digestion",

author = "Serena Simonetti and {Fernandez Martin}, Claudia and Davide Dionisi",

note = "Funding This study was funded by LEVERHULME TRUST. Serena Simonetti, a Leverhulme Trust Doctoral Scholar, is part of the 15 PhD scholarships of the “Leverhulme Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Production of Chemicals and Materials” at the University of Aberdeen (Scotland, UK).",

year = "2022",

month = jun,

day = "12",

doi = "10.3390/pr10061176",

language = "English",

volume = "10",

journal = "Processes",

issn = "2227-9717",

publisher = "MDPI",

number = "6",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Microwave pre-treatment of model food waste to produce short chain organic acids and ethanol via anaerobic fermentation

AU - Simonetti, Serena

AU - Fernandez Martin, Claudia

AU - Dionisi, Davide

N1 - Funding This study was funded by LEVERHULME TRUST. Serena Simonetti, a Leverhulme Trust Doctoral Scholar, is part of the 15 PhD scholarships of the “Leverhulme Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Production of Chemicals and Materials” at the University of Aberdeen (Scotland, UK).

PY - 2022/6/12

Y1 - 2022/6/12

N2 - As an alternative to conventional anaerobic digestion for methane production, anaerobic fermentation (AF) of organic matter can produce short chain organic acids (SCOAs) in a sustainable way. This study investigated the effect of microwave (MW) pre-treatment on the AF of model food waste to SCOAs and ethanol. The MW pre-treatment was investigated at three temperatures (120, 150 and 180 °C) and residence times (2, 5 and 8 min). The MW treatment gave a significant reduction in the pH and volatile suspended solids (VSS). The largest reduction in the VSS was 20%, indicating solubilisation of the organic matter. The latter was also confirmed by the increase, although it was not statistically significant, in the soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD) and soluble carbohydrates. In the fermentation batch tests, the total product yield was higher (17.5% COD COD−1) than for the untreated substrate (11.1% COD COD−1). An electricity price of GBP 0.06 kWh−1 would correspond to the market value of the additional SCOAs produced with the pre-treated substrate. Although this price is lower than the current business price of electricity in the UK, the MW pre-treatment could become economically feasible with scale-up effects and by using free excess electricity coming from renewable resources.

AB - As an alternative to conventional anaerobic digestion for methane production, anaerobic fermentation (AF) of organic matter can produce short chain organic acids (SCOAs) in a sustainable way. This study investigated the effect of microwave (MW) pre-treatment on the AF of model food waste to SCOAs and ethanol. The MW pre-treatment was investigated at three temperatures (120, 150 and 180 °C) and residence times (2, 5 and 8 min). The MW treatment gave a significant reduction in the pH and volatile suspended solids (VSS). The largest reduction in the VSS was 20%, indicating solubilisation of the organic matter. The latter was also confirmed by the increase, although it was not statistically significant, in the soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD) and soluble carbohydrates. In the fermentation batch tests, the total product yield was higher (17.5% COD COD−1) than for the untreated substrate (11.1% COD COD−1). An electricity price of GBP 0.06 kWh−1 would correspond to the market value of the additional SCOAs produced with the pre-treated substrate. Although this price is lower than the current business price of electricity in the UK, the MW pre-treatment could become economically feasible with scale-up effects and by using free excess electricity coming from renewable resources.

KW - anaerobic fermentation

KW - food waste

KW - pre-treatment

KW - microwave

KW - SCOAs

KW - anaerobic digestion

U2 - 10.3390/pr10061176

DO - 10.3390/pr10061176

M3 - Article

SN - 2227-9717

VL - 10

JO - Processes

JF - Processes

IS - 6

M1 - 1176

ER -

Microwave pre-treatment of model food waste to produce short chain organic acids and ethanol via anaerobic fermentation

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this