Mitigation of the inhibitory effect of soap by magnesium salt treatment of crude glycerol--a novel approach for enhanced biohydrogen production from the biodiesel industry waste

Insights into correlation between hydrogen yield improvement and glycerol addition in photo-fermentation of Arundo donax L

This study aimed to explore the correlation between hydrogen yield improvement of photo-fermentation of Arundo donax L. and glycerol addition. Different glycerol concentrations (g/L) (0, 10, 15, 20, and 30) were replenished to establish co-substrate system. And statistical analysis was introduced to evaluate the correlation. The maximum hydrogen yield improvement (294%) was obtained from glycerol addition of 15 g/L in comparison with mono-substrate system of Arundo donax L. Under the optimal glycerol addition (15 g/L), the glycerol/Arundo donax L. ratio, C/N ratio, initial medium redox potential (E_h), and solid/liquid ratio were 1:1, 25.1, 57 mV, and 1/68, respectively. In addition, canonical correlation analysis (CCA) indicated that initial and final medium redox potential (E_h) had the strongest relationship with yield improvement of photo-fermentation. Moreover, Pearson's correlation analysis claimed that Arundo donax L./glycerol ratio played a key role during the photo-fermentative hydrogen production (PFHP) process.

Production of Biodiesel from Castor Oil: A Review

An attractive alternative to the use of fossil fuels is biodiesel, which can be obtained from a variety of feedstock through different transesterification systems such as ultrasound, microwave, biological, chemical, among others. The efficient and cost-effective biodiesel production depends on several parameters such as free fatty acid content in the feedstock, transesterification reaction efficiency, alcohol:oil ratio, catalysts type, and several parameters during the production process. However, biodiesel production from vegetable oils is under development, causing the final price of biodiesel to be higher than diesel derived from petroleum. An alternative to decrease the production costs will be the use of economical feedstocks and simple production processes. Castor oil is an excellent raw material in terms of price and quality, but especially this non-edible vegetable oil does not have any issues or compromise food security. Recently, the use of castor oil has attracted attention for producing and optimizing biodiesel production, due to high content of ricinoleic fatty acid and the possibility to esterify with only methanol, which assures low production costs. Additionally, biodiesel from castor oil has different advantages over conventional diesel. Some of them are biodegradable, non-toxic, renewable, they can be used alone, low greenhouse gas emission, among others. This review discusses and analyzes different transesterification processes, technologies, as well as different technical aspects during biodiesel production using castor oil as a feedstock.

A Review of the Enhancement of Bio-Hydrogen Generation by Chemicals Addition

Bio-hydrogen production (BHP) produced from renewable bio-resources is an attractive route for green energy production, due to its compelling advantages of relative high efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and lower ecological impact. This study reviewed different BHP pathways, and the most important enzymes involved in these pathways, to identify technological gaps and effective approaches for process intensification in industrial applications. Among the various approaches reviewed in this study, a particular focus was set on the latest methods of chemicals/metal addition for improving hydrogen generation during dark fermentation (DF) processes; the up-to-date findings of different chemicals/metal addition methods have been quantitatively evaluated and thoroughly compared in this paper. A new efficiency evaluation criterion is also proposed, allowing different BHP processes to be compared with greater simplicity and validity.

Chemical and biological conversion of crude glycerol derived from waste cooking oil to biodiesel

In this study, crude, purified, and pure glycerol were used to cultivate Trichosporon oleaginosus for lipid production which was then used as feedstock of biodiesel production. The purified glycerol was obtained from crude glycerol by removing soap with addition of H₃PO₄ which converted soap to free fatty acids and then separated from the solution. The results showed that purified glycerol provided similar performance as pure glycerol in lipid accumulation; however, crude glycerol as carbon source had negatively impacted the lipid production of T. oleaginosus. Purified glycerol was later used to determine the optimal glycerol concentration for lipid production. The highest lipid yield 0.19g/g glycerol was obtained at 50g/L purified glycerol in which the biomass concentration and lipid content were 10.75g/L and 47% w/w, respectively. An energy gain of 4150.51MJ could be obtained with 1tonne of the crude glycerol employed for biodiesel production through the process proposed in this study. The biodiesel production cost estimated was 6.32US$/gal. Fatty acid profiles revealed that C16:0 and C18:1 were the major compounds of the biodiesel from the lipid produced by T. oleaginosus cultivated with crude and purified glycerol. The study found that purified glycerol was promising carbon source for biodiesel production.

Crude glycerol from biodiesel as a carbon source for production of a recombinant highly thermostable β-mannanase by Pichia pastoris

OBJECTIVE

To explore an efficient use of crude glycerol for the production of a highly thermostable β-mannanase (ReTMan26) by Pichia pastoris X33.

RESULTS

Cell growth was significantly inhibited by 4 and 6% (w/v) crude glycerol in 250 ml shake-flasks and in 5 l bioreactor batch cultures, respectively, but not affected by pure glycerol at the same concentrations. For further study, the impact of various impurities in crude glycerol on the cell growth of, and ReTMan26 production by, Pichia pastoris was investigated. Salts and methanol did not exert an inhibitory effect, but ≥ 0.2% and 0.3% (w/v) soap in shake-flask and bioreactor cultures, respectively, inhibited fermentation. Under identical conditions, the biomass and ReTMan26 activity produced by high-cell-density fermentation using 5% crude glycerol (glycerol at 80%, w/w) were slightly higher than those using 4% (w/v) pure glycerol.

CONCLUSIONS

Non-pretreated ≤ 5% (w/v) crude glycerol could be effectively utilized for industrial production of ReTMan26, and the total production costs using crude glycerol were ~ 4.2% lower than those using pure glycerol.

Activation of glycerol metabolism in Xanthomonas campestris by adaptive evolution to produce a high-transparency and low-viscosity xanthan gum from glycerol

Many studies have focused on using crude glycerol from biodiesel to obtain valuable products, but few of these studies have focused on obtaining polysaccharides. A mutant strain of Xanthomonas campestris CCTCC M2015714 that could use glycerol to produce high-transparency and low-viscosity xanthan gum was obtained by adaptive evolution, and the yield of xanthan gum reached 11.0g/L. We found that transcriptional levels of genes related to glycerol metabolism (glpF, glpK, glpD, and fbp) in the mutant strain were all higher than those from the parent strain. Using 5g/L sucrose or glucose as starter substrate, cell growth time decreased from 36h to 24h and xanthan gum yield increased. Moreover, the mutant strain can tolerate high titer glycerol, and its activity was not affected by the impurities in crude glycerol. All these results proved that crude glycerol from biodiesel industries can be used for xanthan gum production.

Potential Application of Biohydrogen Production Liquid Waste as Phosphate Solubilizing Agent-A Study Using Soybean Plants

With CO2 free emission and a gravimetric energy density higher than gasoline, diesel, biodiesel, and bioethanol, biohydrogen is a promising green renewable energy carrier. During fermentative hydrogen production, 60-70 % of the feedstock is converted to different by-products, dominated by organic acids. In the present investigation, a simple approach for value addition of hydrogen production liquid waste (HPLW) containing these compounds has been demonstrated. In soil, organic acids produced by phosphate solubilizing bacteria chelate the cations of insoluble inorganic phosphates (e.g., Ca3 (PO4)2) and make the phosphorus available to the plants. Organic acid-rich HPLW, therefore, has been evaluated as soil phosphate solubilizer. Application of HPLW as soil phosphate solubilizer was found to improve the phosphorus uptake of soybean plants by 2.18- to 2.74-folds. Additionally, 33-100 % increase in seed germination rate was also observed. Therefore, HPLW has the potential to be an alternative for phosphate solubilizing biofertilizers available in the market. Moreover, the strategy can be useful for phytoremediation of phosphorus-rich soil.

Biohydrogen production by co-fermentation of crude glycerol and apple pomace hydrolysate using co-culture of Enterobacter aerogenes and Clostridium butyricum

Co-substrate utilization of various wastes with complementary characteristics can provide a complete medium for higher hydrogen production. This study evaluated potential of apple pomace hydrolysate (APH) co-fermented with crude glycerol (CG) for increased H2 production and decreased by-products formation. The central composite design (CCD) along with response surface methodology (RSM) was used as tool for optimization and 15 g/L of CG, 5 g/L of APH and 15% (v/v) inoculum were found to be optimum to produce as high as 26.07 ± 1.57 mmol H2/L of medium. The p-value of 0.0017 indicated that APH at lower concentration had a significant effect on H2 production. By using CG as sole carbon source, reductive pathway of glycerol metabolism was favored with 19.46 mmol H2/L. However, with APH, oxidative pathway was favored with higher H2 production (26.07 ± 1.57 mmol/L) and decrease in reduced by-products (1,3-propanediol and ethanol) formation. APH inclusion enhanced H2 production, and decreased substrate inhibition.

Low cost semi-continuous bioprocess and online monitoring of hydrogen production from crude glycerol

Low cost process dealing with five challenges in enhanced hydrogen production from crude glycerol and online monitoring.

Revealing the factors influencing a fermentative biohydrogen production process using industrial wastewater as fermentation substrate

BACKGROUND

Biohydrogen production through dark fermentation using organic waste as a substrate has gained increasing attention in recent years, mostly because of the economic advantages of coupling renewable, clean energy production with biological waste treatment. An ideal approach is the use of selected microbial inocula that are able to degrade complex organic substrates with simultaneous biohydrogen generation. Unfortunately, even with a specifically designed starting inoculum, there is still a number of parameters, mostly with regard to the fermentation conditions, that need to be improved in order to achieve a viable, large-scale, and technologically feasible solution. In this study, statistics-based factorial experimental design methods were applied to investigate the impact of various biological, physical, and chemical parameters, as well as the interactions between them on the biohydrogen production rates.

RESULTS

By developing and applying a central composite experimental design strategy, the effects of the independent variables on biohydrogen production were determined. The initial pH value was shown to have the largest effect on the biohydrogen production process. High-throughput sequencing-based metagenomic assessments of microbial communities revealed a clear shift towards a Clostridium sp.-dominated environment, as the responses of the variables investigated were maximized towards the highest H2-producing potential. Mass spectrometry analysis suggested that the microbial consortium largely followed hydrogen-generating metabolic pathways, with the simultaneous degradation of complex organic compounds, and thus also performed a biological treatment of the beer brewing industry wastewater used as a fermentation substrate.

CONCLUSIONS

Therefore, we have developed a complex optimization strategy for batch-mode biohydrogen production using a defined microbial consortium as the starting inoculum and beer brewery wastewater as the fermentation substrate. These results have the potential to bring us closer to an optimized, industrial-scale system which will serve the dual purpose of wastewater pre-treatment and concomitant biohydrogen production.