Acidogenesis of Pentose Liquor to Produce Biohydrogen and Organic Acids Integrated with 1G–2G Ethanol Production in Sugarcane Biorefineries

Guilherme Peixoto, Gustavo Mockaitis, Wojtyla Kmiecik Moreira, Daniel Moureira Fontes Lima, Marisa Aparecida de Lima, Filipe Vasconcelos Ferreira, Lucas Tadeu Fuess (), Igor Polikarpov and Marcelo Zaiat
Additional contact information
Guilherme Peixoto: Department of Engineering of Bioprocesses and Biotechnology, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, São Paulo State University (UNESP), São Paulo 14800-903, SP, Brazil
Gustavo Mockaitis: Interdisciplinary Research Group On Biotechnology Applied to the Agriculture and the Environment (GBMA), School of Agricultural Engineering (FEAGRI), University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Av. Candido Rondon, 501–Cidade Universitária, São Paulo 13083-875, SP, Brazil
Wojtyla Kmiecik Moreira: Biological Processes Laboratory, São Carlos School of Engineering, University of São Paulo (EESC/USP), São Carlos 13563-120, SP, Brazil
Daniel Moureira Fontes Lima: Department of Civil Engineering, Federal University of Sergipe (UFS), São Cristóvão 49107-230, SE, Brazil
Marisa Aparecida de Lima: Molecular Biotechnology Group, São Carlos Physics Institute, University of São Paulo (IFSC/USP), São Carlos 13566-590, SP, Brazil
Filipe Vasconcelos Ferreira: Biological Processes Laboratory, São Carlos School of Engineering, University of São Paulo (EESC/USP), São Carlos 13563-120, SP, Brazil
Lucas Tadeu Fuess: Biological Processes Laboratory, São Carlos School of Engineering, University of São Paulo (EESC/USP), São Carlos 13563-120, SP, Brazil
Igor Polikarpov: Molecular Biotechnology Group, São Carlos Physics Institute, University of São Paulo (IFSC/USP), São Carlos 13566-590, SP, Brazil
Marcelo Zaiat: Biological Processes Laboratory, São Carlos School of Engineering, University of São Paulo (EESC/USP), São Carlos 13563-120, SP, Brazil

Waste, 2023, vol. 1, issue 3, 1-17

Abstract: Second-generation (2G) ethanol production has been increasingly evaluated, and the use of sugarcane bagasse as feedstock has enabled the integration of this process with first-generation (1G) ethanol production from sugarcane. The pretreatment of bagasse generates pentose liquor as a by-product, which can be anaerobically processed to recover energy and value-added chemicals. The potential to produce biohydrogen and organic acids from pentose liquor was assessed using a mesophilic (25 °C) upflow anaerobic packed-bed bioreactor in this study. An average organic loading rate of 11.1 g COD·L −1 ·d −1 was applied in the reactor, resulting in a low biohydrogen production rate of 120 mL·L −1 d −1 . Meanwhile, high lactate (38.6 g·d −1 ), acetate (31.4 g·d −1 ), propionate (50.1 g·d −1 ), and butyrate (50.3 g·d −1 ) production rates were concomitantly obtained. Preliminary analyses indicated that the full-scale application of this anaerobic acidogenic technology for hydrogen production in a medium-sized 2G ethanol distillery would have the potential to completely fuel 56 hydrogen-powered vehicles per day. An increase of 24.3% was estimated over the economic potential by means of chemical production, whereas an 8.1% increase was calculated if organic acids were converted into methane for cogeneration (806.73 MWh). In addition, 62.7 and 74.7% of excess organic matter from the 2G ethanol waste stream could be removed with the extraction of organic acid as chemical commodities or their utilization as a substrate for biomethane generation, respectively.

Keywords: sugarcane bagasse; pentose liquor; dark fermentation; biohydrogen; organic acids; biorefinery (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q16 Q18 Q2 Q20 Q23 Q24 Q25 Q28 Q3 Q31 Q38 Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2813-0391/1/3/40/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2813-0391/1/3/40/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jwaste:v:1:y:2023:i:3:p:40-688:d:1211333

Access Statistics for this article

Waste is currently edited by Mr. Sumail Li

More articles in Waste from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().