title: Ethanol production from food waste at high solids content with vacuum recovery technology.
abstract: Ethanol production from food wastes does not only solve environmental issues but also provides renewable biofuels. This study investigated the feasibility of producing ethanol from food wastes at high solids content (35%, w/w). A vacuum recovery system was developed and applied to remove ethanol from fermentation broth to reduce yeast ethanol inhibition. A high concentration of ethanol (144 g/L) was produced by the conventional fermentation of food waste without a vacuum recovery system. When the vacuum recovery is applied to the fermentation process, the ethanol concentration in the fermentation broth was controlled below 100 g/L, thus reducing yeast ethanol inhibition. At the end of the conventional fermentation, the residual glucose in the fermentation broth was 5.7 g/L, indicating incomplete utilization of glucose, while the vacuum fermentation allowed for complete utilization of glucose. The ethanol yield for the vacuum fermentation was found to be 358 g/kg of food waste (dry basis), higher than that for the conventional fermentation at 327 g/kg of food waste (dry basis).
authors.affiliation: †Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States.
authors.forename: Haibo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: ‡Bioenergy Research Unit, National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), 1815 North University Street, Peoria, Illinois 61604, United States.
authors.forename: Nasib
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Qureshi
authors.affiliation: †Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States.
authors.forename: Ming-Hsu
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: †Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: †Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States.
authors.forename: Vijay
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Singh
mesh_terms: D056804:Biofuels; D000431:Ethanol / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D005285:Fermentation; D005516:Food Microbiology; D005658:Fungi / Q000378:metabolism; D007218:Industrial Microbiology; D014866:Waste Products / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D014866:Waste Products; D000431:Ethanol
keywords: ethanol; fermentation; food waste; high solids content; vacuum recovery