Cheese Whey as a Potential Feedstock for Producing Renewable Biofuels: A Review

Carlos S. Osorio-González, Natali Gómez-Falcon, Satinder K. Brar () and Antonio Avalos Ramírez ()
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Carlos S. Osorio-González: Department of Civil Engineering, Lassonde School of Engineering, York University, North York, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada
Natali Gómez-Falcon: Biotechnology Department, Scientific Research Center of Yucatan, Mérida 97205, Mexico
Satinder K. Brar: Department of Civil Engineering, Lassonde School of Engineering, York University, North York, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada
Antonio Avalos Ramírez: Centre National en Électrochimie et en Technologies Environnementales, 2263, Avenue du Collège, Shawinigan, QC G9N 6V8, Canada

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 18, 1-15

Abstract: Agro-industrial residues such as bagasse, pomace, municipal residues, vinasse and cheese whey are an environmental problem around the world, mainly due to the huge volumes that are generated because of the food production to satisfy the nutritional needs of the growing world population. Among the above residues, cheese whey has gained special attention because of its high production with a worldwide production of 160 million tons per year. Most of it is discarded in water bodies and land causing damage to the environment due to the high biological oxygen demand caused by its organic matter load. The environmental regulations in developing countries have motivated the development of new processes to treat transform cheese whey into added-value products such as food supplements, cattle feed and food additives. In addition, during the last decade, several processes and technologies have been developed to produce bioenergy through the biotechnological process using cheese whey as a potential feedstock. This review discusses the production of bioethanol, biohydrogen, biomethane and microbial lipid-biodiesel production using cheese whey as a potential substrate.

Keywords: bioenergy; cheese whey; bioethanol; biohydrogen; biomethane; biodiesel (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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