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Bioengineering
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From Residues to Bio-Based Products through Bioprocess Engineering
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From Residues to Bio-Based Products through Bioprocess Engineering

A special issue of Bioengineering (ISSN 2306-5354). This special issue belongs to the section "Biochemical Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (5 December 2024) | Viewed by 12106

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. María Teresa García-Cubero

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Guest Editor
Department of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology, Institute of Sustainable Processes, Universidad de Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain
Interests: valorization of agroindustrial residues; bioprocesses; pretreatment; SSF; fermentation technology; biofuels; biobutanol; 2,3-butanediol
Dr. Juan Carlos López-Linares

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology, Institute of Sustainable Processes, Universidad de Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain
Interests: valorization of agroindustrial residues; bioprocesses; pretreatment; SSF; fermentation technology; biofuels; biobutanol; 2,3-butanediol

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

One of the sustainable development goals set by the UN is responsible production and consumption as a means to alleviate poverty and facilitate the transition to a clean and circular economy with lower greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, the sustainable management of natural resources will reduce humanity's dependence on non-renewable and unsustainable resources. Research on and innovation in the production of new and sustainable bio-based products is therefore essential.

For example, the agro-industrial sector generates a large volume of waste and by-products that can potentially be used to produce feedstocks such as biofuels or other high-value-added bioproducts. There is a need to develop new bioprocesses or optimize existing ones, to establish new fermentation and separation strategies to significantly improve yield and/or productivity, while minimizing process costs, including those associated with downstream steps.

On the other hand, significant progress needs to be made in developing new knowledge on processes and technologies that allow for the valorization of waste gases (CO2/CO) to obtain bio-products through fermentation processes.

This Special Issue will focus on recent developments that allow for the valorization of residues, including agro-industrial waste, into value-added products through bioprocesses, including, among others, the following topics:

  • Bioprocess design and optimization for the valorization of residues, including C1 gases;
  • Improvements in fermentation processes, including the use of genetically modified micro-organisms;
  • Intensification strategies aimed at integrating saccharification, fermentation and/or separation stages.;
  • The techno-economic evaluation of bioprocesses.

Prof. Dr. María Teresa García-Cubero
Dr. Juan Carlos López-Linares
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Bioengineering is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • residues valorization
  • bioprocess intensification
  • technoeconomics of bioprocesses
  • bioprocess optimization

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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21 pages, 5275 KiB  
Article
Classical Batch Distillation of Anaerobic Digestate to Isolate Ammonium Bicarbonate: Membrane Not Necessary!
by Alejandro Moure Abelenda and Jonas Baltrusaitis
Bioengineering 2024, 11(11), 1152; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering11111152 - 15 Nov 2024
Viewed by 648
Abstract
The excessive mineralization of organic molecules during anaerobic fermentation increases the availability of nitrogen and carbon. For this reason, the development of downstream processing technologies is required to better manage ammonia and carbon dioxide emissions during the storage and land application of the [...] Read more.
The excessive mineralization of organic molecules during anaerobic fermentation increases the availability of nitrogen and carbon. For this reason, the development of downstream processing technologies is required to better manage ammonia and carbon dioxide emissions during the storage and land application of the resulting soil organic amendment. The present work investigated classical distillation as a technology for valorizing ammoniacal nitrogen (NH4+-N) in anaerobic digestate. The results implied that the direct isolation of ammonium bicarbonate (NH4HCO3) was possible when applying the reactive distillation to the food waste digestate (FWD) with a high content of NH4+-N, while the addition of antifoam to the agrowaste digestate (AWD) was necessary to be able to produce an aqueous solution of NH4HCO3 as the distillate. The reason was that the extraction of NH4HCO3 from the AWD required a higher temperature (>95 °C) and duration (i.e., steady state in batch operation) than the recovery of the inorganic fertilizer from the FWD. The titration method, when applied to the depleted digestate, offered the quickest way of monitoring the reactive distillation because the buffer capacity of the distillate was much higher. The isolation of NH4HCO3 from the FWD was attained in a transient mode at a temperature below 90 °C (i.e., while heating up to reach the desired distillation temperature or cooling down once the batch distillation was finished). For the operating conditions to be regarded as techno-economically feasible, they should be attained in the anaerobic digestion plant by integrating the heat harvested from the engines, which convert the biogas into electricity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Residues to Bio-Based Products through Bioprocess Engineering)
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21 pages, 2810 KiB  
Article
Pretreatment of Vine Shoot Biomass by Choline Chloride-Based Deep Eutectic Solvents to Promote Biomass Fractionation and Enhance Sugar Production
by Raquel Cañadas, Aleta Duque, Alberto Bahíllo, Raquel Iglesias and Paloma Manzanares
Bioengineering 2024, 11(9), 935; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering11090935 - 18 Sep 2024
Viewed by 1563
Abstract
Vine shoots hold promise as a biomass source for fermentable sugars with efficient fractionation and conversion processes. The study explores vine shoots as a biomass source for fermentable sugars through pretreatment with two deep eutectic solvents mixtures: choline chloride:lactic acid 1:5 (ChCl:LA) and [...] Read more.
Vine shoots hold promise as a biomass source for fermentable sugars with efficient fractionation and conversion processes. The study explores vine shoots as a biomass source for fermentable sugars through pretreatment with two deep eutectic solvents mixtures: choline chloride:lactic acid 1:5 (ChCl:LA) and choline chloride:ethylene glycol 1:2 (ChCl:EG). Pretreatment conditions, such as temperature/time, solid/liquid ratio, and biomass particle size, were studied. Chemical composition, recovery yields, delignification extent, and carbohydrate conversion were evaluated, including the influence of washing solvents. Temperature and particle size notably affected hemicellulose and lignin dissolution, especially with ChCl:LA. Pretreatment yielded enriched cellulose substrates, with high carbohydrate conversion rates up to 75.2% for cellulose and 99.9% for xylan with ChCl:LA, and 54.6% for cellulose and 60.2% for xylan with ChCl:EG. A 50% acetone/water mixture increased the delignification ratios to 31.5%. The results underscore the potential of this pretreatment for vine shoot fractionation, particularly at 30% solid load, while acknowledging the need for further process enhancement. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Residues to Bio-Based Products through Bioprocess Engineering)
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24 pages, 5527 KiB  
Article
A New Phenolic Acid Decarboxylase from the Brown-Rot Fungus Neolentinus lepideus Natively Decarboxylates Biosourced Sinapic Acid into Canolol, a Bioactive Phenolic Compound
by Elise Odinot, Alexandra Bisotto-Mignot, Toinou Frezouls, Bastien Bissaro, David Navarro, Eric Record, Frédéric Cadoret, Annick Doan, Didier Chevret, Frédéric Fine and Anne Lomascolo
Bioengineering 2024, 11(2), 181; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering11020181 - 14 Feb 2024
Viewed by 1856
Abstract
Rapeseed meal (RSM) is a cheap, abundant and renewable feedstock, whose biorefinery is a current challenge for the sustainability of the oilseed sector. RSM is rich in sinapic acid (SA), a p-hydroxycinnamic acid that can be decarboxylated into canolol (2,6-dimethoxy-4-vinylphenol), a valuable [...] Read more.
Rapeseed meal (RSM) is a cheap, abundant and renewable feedstock, whose biorefinery is a current challenge for the sustainability of the oilseed sector. RSM is rich in sinapic acid (SA), a p-hydroxycinnamic acid that can be decarboxylated into canolol (2,6-dimethoxy-4-vinylphenol), a valuable bioactive compound. Microbial phenolic acid decarboxylases (PADs), mainly described for the non-oxidative decarboxylation of ferulic and p-coumaric acids, remain very poorly documented to date, for SA decarboxylation. The species Neolentinus lepideus has previously been shown to biotransform SA into canolol in vivo, but the enzyme responsible for bioconversion of the acid has never been characterized. In this study, we purified and characterized a new PAD from the canolol-overproducing strain N. lepideus BRFM15. Proteomic analysis highlighted a sole PAD-type protein sequence in the intracellular proteome of the strain. The native enzyme (NlePAD) displayed an unusual outstanding activity for decarboxylating SA (Vmax of 600 U.mg−1, kcat of 6.3 s−1 and kcat/KM of 1.6 s−1.mM−1). We showed that NlePAD (a homodimer of 2 × 22 kDa) is fully active in a pH range of 5.5–7.5 and a temperature range of 30–55 °C, with optima of pH 6–6.5 and 37–45 °C, and is highly stable at 4 °C and pH 6–8. Relative ratios of specific activities on ferulic, sinapic, p-coumaric and caffeic acids, respectively, were 100:24.9:13.4:3.9. The enzyme demonstrated in vitro effectiveness as a biocatalyst for the synthesis of canolol in aqueous medium from commercial SA, with a molar yield of 92%. Then, we developed processes to biotransform naturally-occurring SA from RSM into canolol by combining the complementary potentialities of an Aspergillus niger feruloyl esterase type-A, which is able to release free SA from the raw meal by hydrolyzing its conjugated forms, and NlePAD, in aqueous medium and mild conditions. NlePAD decarboxylation of biobased SA led to an overall yield of 1.6–3.8 mg canolol per gram of initial meal. Besides being the first characterization of a fungal PAD able to decarboxylate SA, this report shows that NlePAD is very promising as new biotechnological tool to generate biobased vinylphenols of industrial interest (especially canolol) as valuable platform chemicals for health, nutrition, cosmetics and green chemistry. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Residues to Bio-Based Products through Bioprocess Engineering)
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26 pages, 4352 KiB  
Article
Effect of Mycotoxins in Silage on Biogas Production
by Antonín Kintl, Tomáš Vítěz, Igor Huňady, Julie Sobotková, Tereza Hammerschmiedt, Monika Vítězová, Martin Brtnický, Jiří Holátko and Jakub Elbl
Bioengineering 2023, 10(12), 1387; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering10121387 - 2 Dec 2023
Viewed by 1693
Abstract
Mycotoxins can pose a threat to biogas production as they can contaminate the feedstock used in biogas production, such as agricultural crops and other organic materials. This research study evaluated the contents of deoxynivalenol (DON), zearalenone (ZEA), fumonisin (FUM), and aflatoxin (AFL) mycotoxins [...] Read more.
Mycotoxins can pose a threat to biogas production as they can contaminate the feedstock used in biogas production, such as agricultural crops and other organic materials. This research study evaluated the contents of deoxynivalenol (DON), zearalenone (ZEA), fumonisin (FUM), and aflatoxin (AFL) mycotoxins in maize silage prior to it being processed in a biogas plant and in digestate produced at the end of the anaerobic digestion (AD) process. In the experiment, three samples of silage were collected from one silage warehouse: Variant 1 = low contamination, Variant 2 = medium contamination, and Variant 3 = heavy contamination, which were subjected to investigation. A significantly reduced biogas production was recorded that was proportional to the increasing contamination with molds, which was primarily due to the AD of silage caused by technologically erroneous silage treatment. The AD was connected with changes in silage composition expressed by the values of VS content, sugar content, lactic acid content, acetic acid content, and the ratio of lactic acid content to acetic acid content. The production of biogas and methane decreased with the increasing contents of NDF, ADF, CF, and lignin. The only exception was Variant 2, in which the content of ADF, CF, and lignin was lower (by 8–11%) than that in Variant 1, and only the content of NDF was higher (by 9%) than that in Variant 1. A secondary factor that also correlated with changes in the composition of the substrate was the development of undesirable organisms, which further contributed to its degradation and to the production of mycotoxins. It was also demonstrated in this study that during the AD process, the tested mycotoxins were degraded, and their content was reduced by 27–100%. Only the variant with low mold contamination showed a DON concentration increase of 27.8%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Residues to Bio-Based Products through Bioprocess Engineering)
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19 pages, 4038 KiB  
Article
Carrot Discard as a Promising Feedstock to Produce 2,3-Butanediol by Fermentation with P. polymyxa DSM 365
by Juan Carlos López-Linares, Adrián Mateo Martínez, Mónica Coca, Susana Lucas and María Teresa García-Cubero
Bioengineering 2023, 10(8), 937; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering10080937 - 7 Aug 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1497
Abstract
The valorization of fruit and vegetable residues (such as carrot discard) and their microbial conversion into 2,3-butanediol (BDO) can be considered as a very interesting way to reduce food waste and sustainably originate high value-added products. This work analyzes the valorization of carrot [...] Read more.
The valorization of fruit and vegetable residues (such as carrot discard) and their microbial conversion into 2,3-butanediol (BDO) can be considered as a very interesting way to reduce food waste and sustainably originate high value-added products. This work analyzes the valorization of carrot discard as feedstock for 2,3-butanediol (BDO) production by Paenibacillus polymyxa DSM 365. The influences of stirring and the presence of tryptone (nitrogen source) are studied. Furthermore, in order to evaluate the influence of the pre-culture medium (nitrogen source, nutrients, and pH) and the substrate, fermentation assays in simple and mixture semi-defined media (glucose, fructose, and/or galactose) were also carried out. As a result, 18.8 g/L BDO, with a BDO yield of 0.43 g/g (86% of its theoretical value), could be obtained from carrot discard enzymatic hydrolysate at 100 rpm, no tryptone, and pre-culture Häßler medium. No hydrothermal pre-treatment was necessary for BDO production from carrot discard, which increases the profitability of the process. Therefore, 18.8 g BDO, as well as 2.5 g ethanol and 2.1 g acetoin by-products, could be obtained from 100 g of carrot discard (dry matter). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Residues to Bio-Based Products through Bioprocess Engineering)
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Review

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21 pages, 1512 KiB  
Review
Mass Transfer Enhancement in High-Solids Anaerobic Digestion of Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Wastes: A Review
by Qingwei Gao, Lili Li, Kun Wang and Qingliang Zhao
Bioengineering 2023, 10(9), 1084; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering10091084 - 14 Sep 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3192
Abstract
The increasing global population and urbanization have led to a pressing need for effective solutions to manage the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW). High-solids anaerobic digestion (HS-AD) has garnered attention as a sustainable technology that offers reduced water demand and energy [...] Read more.
The increasing global population and urbanization have led to a pressing need for effective solutions to manage the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW). High-solids anaerobic digestion (HS-AD) has garnered attention as a sustainable technology that offers reduced water demand and energy consumption, and an increased biogas production rate. However, challenges such as rheology complexities and slow mass transfer hinder its widespread application. To address these limitations, this review emphasizes the importance of process optimization and the mass transfer enhancement of HS-AD, and summarizes various strategies for enhancing mass transfer in the field of HS-AD for the OFMSW, including substrate pretreatments, mixing strategies, and the addition of biochar. Additionally, the incorporation of innovative reactor designs, substrate pretreatment, the use of advanced modeling and simulation techniques, and the novel conductive materials need to be investigated in future studies to promote a better coupling between mass transfer and methane production. This review provides support and guidance to promote HS-AD technology as a more viable solution for sustainable waste management and resource recovery. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Residues to Bio-Based Products through Bioprocess Engineering)
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