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Waste Treatment and Sustainable Biotechnology
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Waste Treatment and Sustainable Biotechnology

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Bioeconomy of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 September 2023) | Viewed by 10748

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Ana Cristina Pontes de Barros Rodrigues

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. PROMETHEUS - Research Unit in Materials, Energy and Environment for Sustainability, ESA - Escola Superior Agrária do IPVC - Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Rua D. Mendo Afonso, 147, Refóios do Lima, 4990-706 Ponte de Lima, Portugal
2. CEB – Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
3. LABBELS – Associate Laboratory, Braga, Guimarães, Portugal
Interests: circular economy; waste treatment; energy and nutrients recovery; nature-based solutions; sustainable production systems; green roofs; water and wastewater treatment and reuse
Dr. Luís Miguel Cortez Mesquita de Brito

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CIMO—Mountain Research Center, Escola Superior Agrária, Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Rua D. Mendo Afonso, 147, 4990-706 Ponte de Lima, Portugal
Interests: composting; nitrogen; organic waste; plant nutrition; soil organic amendment
Dr. Manuela Vaz Velho

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Center for Research and Development in Agrifood Systems and Sustainability (CISAS), Institute Polytechnic of Viana do Castelo, Viana do Castelo, Portugal
Interests: food processing and preservation; biowaste valorization; bio-based ingredients; bioactivities of natural products
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The valorization of organic waste and wastewater represents one of the most important challenges of biotechnology research, contributing to a circular economy and sustainability. Large amounts of residues and high volumes of wastewater are produced annually, which, due to their composition and organic load, may represent a serious environmental problem. The circular economy and climate mitigation agendas are inextricably linked and mutually reinforcing in prioritizing resource efficiency and resilience. A circular economy aims to maintain the value of products, materials and resources for as long as possible by returning them into the product cycle at the end of their use, while minimizing the generation of waste. It can contribute to several different Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 2, Zero Hunger (via sustainable food production), SDG 6, Clean Water and Sanitation, SDG 7, Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG 12, Responsible Consumption and Production, SDG 13, Climate Action, and SDG 15, Life on Land.

We are very glad to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue with your valuable research on methods, processes, techniques and technologies for the valorization of waste and wastewater through biotechnology. This Special Issue aims to promote knowledge and discussion about the latest research on and development of new ideas and research directions highlighting the important contribution of biotechnological applications to boost the transition to a circular economy and promote resilient as well as sustainable cities and communities.

The main subjects of this Special Issue focus on the recovery of energy, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous, as well as the development of new processes and products, through recycling and/or the use of by-products as raw materials in new production processes.

Dr. Ana Cristina Pontes de Barros Rodrigues
Dr. Luís Miguel Cortez Mesquita de Brito
Dr. Manuela Vaz Velho
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. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2400 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

  • waste valorization
  • wastewater treatment and reuse
  • circular economy
  • nutrient and energy recovery
  • biotechnology
  • resource efficiency
  • climate action
  • bio-based ingredients
  • nature-based solutions

Published Papers (4 papers)

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11 pages, 297 KiB  
Article
Use of Agro-Industrial Waste for Biosurfactant Production: A Comparative Study of Hemicellulosic Liquors from Corncobs and Sunflower Stalks
by Brenda Lohanny Passos Santos, Meirielly Santos Jesus, Fernando Mata, Aline Alves Oliveira Santos Prado, Isabela Maria Monteiro Vieira, Larissa Castor Ramos, Jorge A. López, Manuela Vaz-Velho, Denise Santos Ruzene and Daniel Pereira Silva
Sustainability 2023, 15(8), 6341; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15086341 - 7 Apr 2023
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2141
Abstract
Biosurfactants have attracted considerable attention because of their lower toxicity, biocompatibility, and effectiveness over chemical surfactants. The use of renewable sources and the concept of sustainable production for such biomolecules supports the increased demand for eco-friendly products. Herein, the present study investigated corncobs [...] Read more.
Biosurfactants have attracted considerable attention because of their lower toxicity, biocompatibility, and effectiveness over chemical surfactants. The use of renewable sources and the concept of sustainable production for such biomolecules supports the increased demand for eco-friendly products. Herein, the present study investigated corncobs (CC) and sunflower stalks (SS) as substitutes for conventional substrates in submerged fermentation with B. subtilis. The agro-industrial residues were submitted to an alkaline pretreatment to obtain hydrolysates rich in hemicelluloses, whose concentrations were determined at 48.8% and 65.7% for corncob and sunflower stalk liquors, respectively. The influence of different concentrations of glucose (0, 2.5, and 5%) and liquor (0, 20%, and 40%) were evaluated according to cell concentration, surface tension reduction rate (STRR), and emulsification index (EI24). Biosurfactants obtained with the hemicellulose liquor of sunflower stalk showed the highest cell concentration (4.57 g/L) and STRR (58.07%), whereas the maximum values of EI24 (56.90% in hexane, 65.63% in toluene, and 64.86% in kerosene) were achieved by using corncob liquor. All top results were observed at 2.5% glucose, 20% liquor (CC or SS), and 1% mineral salts. Notably, excess glucose or liquor (CC or SS) negatively affected cell growth and biosurfactant performance. The results indicated the potential of corncobs and sunflower stalks as low-cost substrates to produce a high added-value biosurfactant with promising tensoative and emulsifying properties. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Waste Treatment and Sustainable Biotechnology)
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14 pages, 5237 KiB  
Article
Optimization of Xanthan Gum Production by Demerara Sugar Using Response Surface Methodology
by Larissa Castor Ramos, Meirielly Santos Jesus, Preciosa Pires, Alberto S. Fontes-Junior, Erica S. Nunes, Klebson S. Santos, José António Teixeira, Francine Ferreira Padilha, Denise Santos Ruzene and Daniel Pereira Silva
Sustainability 2023, 15(6), 5080; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065080 - 13 Mar 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2147
Abstract
Xanthan gum (XG) production using three Xanthomonas sp. strains (290, 472, and S6) was evaluated by applying a 23 full factorial central composite design response to study the interactive effects of the fermentation medium component concentrations as parameters to determine the efficiency [...] Read more.
Xanthan gum (XG) production using three Xanthomonas sp. strains (290, 472, and S6) was evaluated by applying a 23 full factorial central composite design response to study the interactive effects of the fermentation medium component concentrations as parameters to determine the efficiency of the gum production in batch experiments. The experimental variables were the carbon source (demerara sugar or sucrose), potassium phosphate dibasic, and magnesium sulfate. Experimental results showed the K2HPO4 concentration as the important parameter for XG production by using Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. manihotis IBSBF 290 and X. campestris pv. campestris IBSBF 472, while for the Xanthomonas sp. S6 strain, the MgSO4∙7H2O concentration was the determining factor in XG production using demerara sugar or sucrose as a carbon source. The strains of Xanthomonas 472 and S6, using demerara sugar and higher concentrations of salts, exhibited a higher yield of XG (36 and 32%) than when using sucrose and the same concentration of salts. The experimental outcomes highlighted demerara sugar as a suitable and efficient alternative carbon and micronutrient source for XG production. Despite the bacterial strain influence, the medium composition is crucial for this fermentation process. Therefore, the evaluated salts are important factors for XG production, and the demerara sugar can partially replace this mineral salt requirement as indicated by the face-centered composite experimental design due to its chemical composition. Overall, demerara sugar provides promising properties for XG production. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Waste Treatment and Sustainable Biotechnology)
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14 pages, 1218 KiB  
Article
Composting Waste from the White Wine Industry
by Rui Pinto, Cláudia Correia, Isabel Mourão, Luísa Moura and Luis Miguel Brito
Sustainability 2023, 15(4), 3454; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15043454 - 14 Feb 2023
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2430
Abstract
The wine industry generates a large amount of waste, and composting is an alternative for recycling these residues with agronomic and environmental advantages. With this aim, grape marc and grape stalks were composted in static and turned piles, with three and six turns, [...] Read more.
The wine industry generates a large amount of waste, and composting is an alternative for recycling these residues with agronomic and environmental advantages. With this aim, grape marc and grape stalks were composted in static and turned piles, with three and six turns, to investigate the effects of pile conditions during composting in order to improve final compost quality. Thermophilic temperatures were attained soon after pile construction, and the highest maximum temperatures were achieved in the turned piles (70.5–71.8 °C). However, pile moisture content decreased below the recommended values after day 42 in these piles. The extremely high temperatures and low moisture content in the turned piles hampered organic matter mineralization rates and the amount of potentially mineralizable organic matter (OM0) (391–407 g kg−1), whereas the structure of the static pile provided adequate porosity to increase organic matter decomposition and OM0 (568 g kg−1). This study shows that composting grape marc with stalks, for a period of 140 days, resulted in stabilized and matured compost (NH4+-N/NO3–-N < 0.5) with good chemical characteristics for applications as soil organic amendment, without the need for rewetting or turning the piles, thus reducing the agronomic and environmental cost of the composting process. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Waste Treatment and Sustainable Biotechnology)
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33 pages, 2341 KiB  
Systematic Review
Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on the Use of LCA to Assess the Environmental Impacts of the Composting Process
by Laís Fabiana Serafini, Manuel Feliciano, Manuel Angelo Rodrigues and Artur Gonçalves
Sustainability 2023, 15(2), 1394; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15021394 - 11 Jan 2023
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3322
Abstract
Following the industrial revolution, major economic and populational growth took place, and, therefore, solid waste generation increased exponentially. Nowadays, waste management still generates major impacts because the current wide offer of waste management strategies includes many solutions that produce suboptimal results, such as [...] Read more.
Following the industrial revolution, major economic and populational growth took place, and, therefore, solid waste generation increased exponentially. Nowadays, waste management still generates major impacts because the current wide offer of waste management strategies includes many solutions that produce suboptimal results, such as landfill or waste incineration. From a circular economy perspective, composting is a potentially sustainable option to treat the organic fraction of solid waste and has the advantage of recycling many organic compounds that can be reintroduced into the natural processes. This study aimed to provide a meta-analysis using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method to evaluate the impacts of composting by performing a systematic literature review of the diversity of approaches and assessing environmental impacts. The results of the impact assessment were highly dependent on the choices made over the system boundary and the functional units. The most cited environmental impacts were Global Warming Potential, Acidification Potential, Eutrophication Potential, Photochemical Oxidation Potential, and Ozone Layer Depletion, as gaseous emissions from the transport and decomposition represent the main contributors to these categories. Using a smaller dataset and evaluating the use of the CML method and the most cited impacts categories, it was found that In-vessel Composting and Home Composting were considered the best environmental options among the studied composting methods. Composting environmental impacts were also highly related to the use of non-renewable energy sources, which puts composting at a disadvantage when compared with the use of anaerobic digestion. Such results emphasize the benefits of using these waste management technologies as complementary instead of substitutes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Waste Treatment and Sustainable Biotechnology)
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