CERES :: Browsing by Author "Narisetty, Vivek"

Browsing by Author "Narisetty, Vivek"

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Open Access
Biological production and recovery of 2,3-butanediol using arabinose from sugar beet pulp by Enterobacter ludwigii
(Elsevier, 2022-04-21) Narisetty, Vivek; Narisetty, Sudheera; Jacob, Samuel; Kumar, Deepak; Leeke, Gary A.; Chandel, Anuj Kumar; Singh, Vijai; Srivastava, Vimal Chandra; Kumar, Vinod
Sugar beet pulp (SBP) is a major byproduct from the sugar industries and consists of >20% w/w arabinose. The current work evaluated the potential of Enterobacter ludwigii assimilating pure arabinose and arabinose rich hydrolysate from SBP pellets for 2,3-butanediol (BDO) production. The hydrolysate was obtained through dilute acid pretreatment (DAP) with sulphuric acid. The process was optimized for acid and solid loading to obtain a hydrolysate free from furan derivatives. The effect of different levels of substrate (10–60 g/L) using pure arabinose was conducted in shake flask experiments, followed by co-fermentation with small amounts of glucose and SBP hydrolysate. After flask cultivations, BDO fermentations were carried-out in a bench-top bioreactor in batch and fed-batch modes using pure arabinose as well as SBP hydrolysate. The fed-batch culture led to BDO production of 42.9 and 35.5 g/L from pure arabinose and SBP hydrolysate with conversion yields of 0.31 and 0.29 g/g, respectively. Finally, BDO accumulated on pure arabinose and SBP hydrolysate were recovered using an aqueous two-phase extraction system. The recovery yield of BDO accumulated on arabinose and hydrolysate was ∼97%. The work demonstrated the feasibility of using SBP as a suitable feedstock for manufacturing BDO.
Open Access
Bread waste valorization: a review of sustainability aspects and challenges
(Frontiers, 2024-02-05) Hafyan, Rendra Hakim; Mohanarajan, Jasmithaa; Uppal, Manaal; Kumar, Vinod; Narisetty, Vivek; Maity, Sunil K.; Sadhukhan, Jhuma; Gadkari, Siddharth
Bread waste (BW) poses a significant environmental and economic challenge in the United Kingdom (UK), where an estimated 20 million slices of bread are wasted daily. BW contains polysaccharides with great potential for its valorization into building block chemicals. While BW valorization holds tremendous promise, it is an emerging field with low technology readiness levels (TRLs), necessitating careful consideration of sustainability and commercial-scale utilization. This review offers a comprehensive assessment of the sustainability aspects of BW valorization, encompassing economic, environmental, and social factors. The primary objective of this review article is to enhance our understanding of the potential benefits and challenges associated with this approach. Incorporating circular bioeconomy principles into BW valorization is crucial for addressing global issues stemming from food waste and environmental degradation. The review investigates the role of BW-based biorefineries in promoting the circular bioeconomy concept. This study concludes by discussing the challenges and opportunities of BW valorization and waste reduction, along with proposing potential strategies to tackle these challenges.
Open Access
Bread waste – a potential feedstock for sustainable circular biorefineries
(Elsevier, 2022-12-21) Kumar, Vinod; Brancoli, Pedro; Narisetty, Vivek; Wallace, Stephen; Charalampopoulos, Dimitris; Kumar Dubey, Brajesh; Kumar, Gopalakrishnan; Bhatnagar, Amit; Bhatia, Shashi Kant; Taherzadeh, Mohammad J.
The management of staggering volume of food waste generated (∼1.3 billion tons) is a serious challenge. The readily available untapped food waste can be promising feedstock for setting up biorefineries and one good example is bread waste (BW). The current review emphasis on capability of BW as feedstock for sustainable production of platform and commercially important chemicals. It describes the availability of BW (>100 million tons) to serve as a feedstock for sustainable biorefineries followed by examples of platform chemicals which have been produced using BW including ethanol, lactic acid, succinic acid and 2,3-butanediol through biological route. The BW-based production of these metabolites is compared against 1G and 2G (lignocellulosic biomass) feedstocks. The review also discusses logistic and supply chain challenges associated with use of BW as feedstock. Towards the end, it is concluded with a discussion on life cycle analysis of BW-based production and comparison with other feedstocks.
Open Access
Cleaner technologies to combat heavy metal toxicity
(Elsevier, 2021-07-10) Rebello, Sharrel; Sivaprasad, M. S.; Anoopkumar, A. N.; Jayakrishnan, Lekshmi; Aneesh, Embalil Mathachan; Narisetty, Vivek; Sindhu, Raveendran; Binod, Parameswaran; Pugazhendhi, Arivalagan; Pandey, Ashok
Heavy metals frequently occur as silent poisons present in our daily diet, the environment we live and the products we use, leaving us victims to various associated drastic health and ecological bad effects even in meagre quantities. The prevalence of heavy metals can be traced from children's toys, electronic goods, industrial effluents, pesticide preparation, and even in drinking water in some instances; necessitating methods to remediate them. The current review discusses the various physicochemical and biological methods employed to tackle the problem of heavy metal pollution. Apart from the conventional methods following the principles of adsorption, precipitation, coagulation, and various separation techniques, the advancements made in the directions of biological heavy metal detoxification using microbes, plants, algae have been critically analyzed to identify the specific utility of different agents for specific heavy metal removal. The review paper is a nutshell of different heavy metal remediation strategies, their merits, demerits, and modifications done to alleviate process of heavy metal pollution.
Open Access
Development of hypertolerant strain of Yarrowia lipolytica accumulating succinic acid using high levels of acetate
(American Chemical Society, 2022-08-09) Narisetty, Vivek; Prabhu, Ashish A.; Bommareddy, Rajesh Reddy; Cox, Rylan; Agrawal, Deepti; Misra, Ashish; Ali Haider, M.; Bhatnagar, Amit; Pandey, Ashok; Kumar, Vinod
Acetate is emerging as a promising feedstock for biorefineries as it can serve as an alternate carbon source for microbial cell factories. In this study, we expressed acetyl-CoA synthase in Yarrowia lipolytica PSA02004PP, and the recombinant strain grew on acetate as the sole carbon source and accumulated succinic acid or succinate (SA). Unlike traditional feedstocks, acetate is a toxic substrate for microorganisms; therefore, the recombinant strain was further subjected to adaptive laboratory evolution to alleviate toxicity and improve tolerance against acetate. At high acetate concentrations, the adapted strain Y. lipolytica ACS 5.0 grew rapidly and accumulated lipids and SA. Bioreactor cultivation of ACS 5.0 with 22.5 g/L acetate in a batch mode resulted in a maximum cell OD600 of 9.2, with lipid and SA accumulation being 0.84 and 5.1 g/L, respectively. However, its fed-batch cultivation yielded a cell OD600 of 23.5, SA titer of 6.5 g/L, and lipid production of 1.5 g/L with an acetate uptake rate of 0.2 g/L h, about 2.86 times higher than the parent strain. Cofermentation of acetate and glucose significantly enhanced the SA titer and lipid accumulation to 12.2 and 1.8 g/L, respectively, with marginal increment in cell growth (OD600: 26.7). Furthermore, metabolic flux analysis has drawn insights into utilizing acetate for the production of metabolites that are downstream to acetyl-CoA. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on SA production from acetate by Y. lipolytica and demonstrates a path for direct valorization of sugar-rich biomass hydrolysates with elevated acetate levels to SA.
Open Access
Enhanced 2,3-Butanediol production by mutant Enterobacter ludwigii using Brewers’ spent grain hydrolysate: process optimization for a pragmatic biorefinery loom
(Elsevier, 2021-06-18) Amraoui, Yassin; Prabhu, Ashish A.; Narisetty, Vivek; Coulon, Frederic; Chandel, Anuj Kumar; Willoughby, Nicholas; Jacob, Samuel; Koutinas, Apostolis; Kumar, Vinod
2,3-Butanediol (BDO) is a fossil-based versatile bulk chemical with a multitude of applications. BDO can also be synthesized using microbial cell factories harnessing renewable feedstocks. However, the high cost of the substrate via microbial route impedes commercial manufacturing of BDO. Therefore, identification of cheaper substrates could make bio-based BDO production more cost-competitive. Brewers’ spent grain (BSG), a major by-product of breweries, is an inexpensive source of fermentable sugars and proteins. In the present study, we have attempted the bioproduction of BDO by Enterobacter ludwigii using BSG as feedstock. A random E. ludwigii mutant obtained after treatment with ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS) resulted in a BDO titer (9.5 g/L), ~30% higher in comparison to the wild type strain with a yield of 0.48 gBDO/gGlucose approaching the theoretical yield of 0.50 gBDO/gGlucose. The enzymatic hydrolysis of microwave-assisted alkali pretreated BSG was optimized using the statistical Taguchi design. The BSG hydrolysis under optimal conditions (pH: 6.0; temperature: 50 °C; BSG: 10% w/v; enzyme loading: 2% v/v) resulted in a glucose yield of 0.25 gGlucose/gBiomass. The uncontrolled pH was found to be more beneficial for BDO accumulation from BSG hydrolysate in batch bioreactor cultivation as compared with controlled one. The fed-batch cultivation with forced pH fluctuations at an aeration rate of 2.0 vvm resulted in BDO accumulation of 118.5 g/L from glucose-rich BSG hydrolysate with the yield and productivity of 0.43 g/g and 1.65 g/L.h, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on BDO production from BSG.
Open Access
Fermentative production of 2,3-Butanediol using bread waste – A green approach for sustainable management of food waste
(Elsevier, 2022-06-01) Narisetty, Vivek; Zhang, Le; Zhang, Jingxin; Lin, Carol Sze Ki; Tong, Yen Wah; Show, Pau Loke; Bhatia, Shashi Kant; Misra, Ashish; Kumar, Vinod
Bread is Europe’s most wasted food, and the second most wasted food after potatoes in UK. Bread waste (BW) is a clean source of high-quality fermentable sugars. In this study, the potential of Enterobacter ludwigii to accumulate 2,3-butanediol (BDO) from BW was evaluated. Initially, the optimal inoculum size and yeast extract concentration were determined, followed by extraction of sugars from BW using acid and enzymatic hydrolysis. A glucose yield of 330–530 g/kg BW was obtained, and the sugars released were utilised for BDO production by E. ludwigii. The fed-batch cultivation using pure glucose and glucose rich hydrolysates from acid and enzymatic hydrolysis resulted in BDO titres of 144.5, 135.4, and 138.8 g/L, after 96 h, with yield of 0.47, 0.42 and 0.48 g/g yield, respectively. The innovation of the work is valorisation of BW to BDO with a circular biorefining approach and thus, reducing BW disposal and associated environmental burden.
Open Access
Fermentative valorisation of xylose-rich hemicellulosic hydrolysates from agricultural waste residues for lactic acid production under non-sterile conditions
(Elsevier, 2023-05-18) Cox, Rylan; Narisetty, Vivek; Castro, Eulogio; Agrawal, Deepti; Jacob, Samuel; Kumar, Gopalakrishnan; Kumar, Deepak; Kumar, Vinod
Lactic acid (LA) is a platform chemical with diverse industrial applications. Presently, commercial production of LA is dominated by microbial fermentation using sugary or starch-based feedstocks. Research pursuits emphasizing towards sustainable production of LA using non-edible and renewable feedstocks have accelerated the use of lignocellulosic biomass (LCB). The present study focuses on the valorisation of xylose derived from sugarcane bagasse (SCB) and olive pits (OP) through hydrothermal and dilute acid pretreatment, respectively. The xylose-rich hydrolysate obtained was used for LA production by homo-fermentative and thermophilic Bacillus coagulans DSM2314 strain under non-sterile conditions. The fed-batch mode of fermentation resulted in maximum LA titers of 97.8, 52.4 and 61.3 g/L with a yield of 0.77, 0.66 and 0.71 g/g using pure xylose, xylose-rich SCB and OP hydrolysates, respectively. Further, a two-step aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) extraction technique was employed for the separation and recovery of LA accumulated on pure and crude xylose. The LA recovery was 45 – 65% in the first step and enhanced to 80–90% in the second step.The study demonstrated an efficient integrated biorefinery approach to valorising the xylose-rich stream for cost-effective LA production and recovery.
Open Access
High level xylitol production by Pichia fermentans using non-detoxified xylose-rich sugarcane bagasse and olive pits hydrolysates
(Elsevier, 2021-09-22) Narisetty, Vivek; Castro, Eulogio; Durgapal, Sumit; Coulon, Frederic; Jacob, Samuel; Kumar, Dinesh; Awasthi, Mukesh Kumar; Pant, Kamal Kishore; Parameswaran, Binod; Kumar, Vinod
Hemicellulosic sugars, the overlooked fraction of lignocellulosic residues can serve as potential and cost-effective raw material that can be exploited for xylitol production. Xylitol is a top platform chemical with applications in food and pharmaceutical industries. Sugarcane bagasse (SCB) and olive pits (OP) are the major waste streams from sugar and olive oil industries, respectively. The current study evaluated the potential of Pichia fermentans for manufacturing of xylitol from SCB and OP hydrolysates through co-fermentation strategy. The highest xylitol accumulation was noticed with a glucose and xylose ratio of 1:10 followed by feeding with xylose alone. The fed-batch cultivation using pure xylose, SCB, and OP hydrolysates, resulted in xylitol accumulation of 102.5, 86.6 and 71.9 g/L with conversion yield of 0.78, 0.75 and 0.74 g/g, respectively. The non-pathogenic behaviour and ability to accumulate high xylitol levels from agro-industrial residues demonstrates the potential of P. fermentans as microbial cell factory.
Open Access
High yield recovery of 2,3-butanediol from fermented broth accumulated on xylose rich sugarcane bagasse hydrolysate using aqueous two-phase extraction system
(Elsevier, 2021-06-26) Narisetty, Vivek; Amraoui, Yassin; Abdullah, Alamri; Ahmad, Ejaz; Agrawal, Deepti; Parameswaran, Binod; Pandey, Ashok; Goel, Saurav; Kumar, Vinod
Downstream processing of chemicals obtained from fermentative route is challenging and cost-determining factor of any bioprocess. 2,3-Butanediol (BDO) is a promising chemical building block with myriad applications in the polymer, food, pharmaceuticals, and fuel sector. The current study focuses on the recovery and purification of BDO produced (68.2 g/L) from detoxified xylose-rich sugarcane bagasse hydrolysate by a mutant strain of Enterobacter ludwigii. Studies involving screening and optimization of aqueous-two phase system (ATPS) revealed that 30% w/v (NH4)2SO4 addition to clarified fermentation broth facilitated BDO extraction in isopropanol (0.5 v/v), with maximum recovery and partition coefficient being 97.9 ± 4.6% and 45.5 ± 3.5, respectively. The optimized protocol was repeated with unfiltered broth containing 68.2 g/L BDO, cell biomass, and unspent protein, which led to the partitioning of 66.7 g/l BDO, 2.0 g/L xylose and 9.0 g/L acetic acid into organic phase with similar BDO recovery (97%) and partition coefficient (45).
Open Access
Integrated biorefineries for repurposing of food wastes into value-added products
(Elsevier, 2022-09-01) Narisetty, Vivek; Adlakha, Nidhi; Singh, Navodit Kumar; Dalei, Sudipt Kumar; Prabhu, Ashish A.; Nagarajan, Sanjay; Kumar, A. Naresh; Nagoth, Joseph Amruthraj; Kumar, Gopalakrishnan; Singh, Vijai; Kumar, Vinod
Food waste (FW) generated through various scenarios from farm to fork causes serious environmental problems when either incinerated or disposed inappropriately. The presence of significant amounts of carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids enable FW to serve as sustainable and renewable feedstock for the biorefineries. Implementation of multiple substrates and product biorefinery as a platform could pursue an immense potential of reducing costs for bio-based process and improving its commercial viability. The review focuses on conversion of surplus FW into range of value-added products including biosurfactants, biopolymers, diols, and bioenergy. The review includes in-depth description of various types of FW, their chemical and nutrient compositions, current valorization techniques and regulations. Further, it describes limitations of FW as feedstock for biorefineries. In the end, review discuss future scope to provide a clear path for sustainable and net-zero carbon biorefineries.
Open Access
Integrated biorefinery for bioethanol and succinic acid co-production from bread waste: techno-economic feasibility and life cycle assessment
(Elsevier, 2024-01-06) Hafyan, Rendra Hakim; Mohanarajan, Jasmithaa; Uppal, Manaal; Kumar, Vinod; Narisetty, Vivek; Maity, Sunil K.; Sadhukhan, Jhuma; Gadkari, Siddharth
In this study, an advanced decarbonization approach is presented for an integrated biorefinery that co-produces bioethanol and succinic acid (SA) from bread waste (BW). The economic viability and the environmental performance of the proposed BW processing biorefinery is evaluated. Four distinctive scenarios were designed and analysed, focusing on a plant capacity that processes 100 metric tons (MT) of BW daily. These scenarios encompass: (1) the fermentation of BW into bioethanol, paired with heat and electricity co-generation from stillage, (2) an energy-optimized integration of Scenario 1 using pinch technology, (3) the co-production of bioethanol and SA by exclusively utilizing fermentative CO2, and (4) an advanced version of Scenario 3 that incorporates carbon capture (CC) from flue gas, amplifying SA production. Scenarios 3 and 4 were found to be economically more attractive with better environmental performance due to the co-production of SA. Particularly, Scenario 4 emerged as superior, showcasing a payback period of 2.2 years, a robust internal rate of return (33% after tax), a return on investment of 32%, and a remarkable net present value of 163 M$. Sensitivity analysis underscored the decisive influence of fixed capital investment and product pricing on economic outcomes. In terms of environmental impact, Scenario 4 outperformed other scenarios across all impact categories, where global warming potential, abiotic depletion (fossil fuels), and human toxicity potential were the most influential impact categories (−0.344 kg CO2-eq, −16.2 MJ, and −0.3 kg 1,4-dichlorobenzene (DB)-eq, respectively). Evidently, the integration of CC unit to flue gas in Scenario 4 substantially enhances both economic returns and environmental sustainability of the biorefinery.
Open Access
Integrated fermentative production and downstream processing of 2,3-butanediol from sugarcane bagasse-derived xylose by mutant strain of Enterobacter ludwigii
(American Chemical Society, 2021-07-16) Amraoui, Yassin; Narisetty, Vivek; Coulon, Frederic; Agrawal, Deepti; Chandel, Anuj Kumar; Maina, Sofia; Koutinas, Apostolis; Kumar, Vinod
In this study, a mutant strain of Enterobacter ludwigii developed in our previous work, was evaluated to utilize pure xylose as the sole carbon and energy source for 2,3-butanediol (BDO) production. Later, this strain was also investigated on detoxified and nondetoxified xylose-rich hydrolysate obtained from hydrothermally pretreated sugarcane bagasse (SCB) for BDO production. Supplementing the fermentation medium with 0.2% w/v yeast extract improved cell growth (31%), BDO titer (43%), and yield (41%) against the synthetic medium devoid of any complex nitrogen source. The fed-batch culture with cyclic control of pH resulted in a BDO production of 71.1 g/L from pure xylose with overall yield and productivity of 0.40 g/g and 0.94 g/L·h, respectively. While BDO titer, yield, and productivity of 63.5 g/L, 0.36 g/g, and 0.84 g/L·h, were acheived with detoxified hydrolysate, respectively. In contrast, 32.7 g/L BDO was produced from nondetoxified hydrolysate with a conversion yield of 0.33 g/g and a productivity of 0.43 g/L·h. BDO accumulated on pure xylose and detoxified SCB hydrolysate was separated by aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) method using (NH4)2SO4 as salting-out agent and isopropanol as an extractant, resulting in the BDO recovery of more than 85%. The results achieved in the current work exemplify a step toward industrial BDO production from cost-effective hemicellulosic hydrolysates by E. ludwigii.
Open Access
Lactic acid and biomethane production from bread waste: a techno-economic and profitability analysis using pinch technology
(Royal Society of Chemistry, 2023-06-07) Mailaram, Swarnalatha; Narisetty, Vivek; Maity, Sunil K.; Gadkari, Siddharth; Thakur, Vijay Kumar; Russelle, Stephen; Kumar, Vinod
Lactic acid (LA) is a vital platform chemical with diverse applications, especially for biodegradable polylactic acid. Bread waste (BW) is sugar-rich waste biomass generated in large quantities in residential and commercial operations. Recently, we evaluated the potential of BW for LA production by Bacillus coagulans under non-sterile conditions. This work presents a techno-economic and profitability analysis for valorizing 100 metric tons of BW per day to alleviate environmental pollution with concurrent production of LA and biomethane. We compared two fermentation approaches: acid-neutral (Scenario I) and low pH (Scenario II). Traditional esterification with methanol, followed by hydrolysis of methyl lactate, was employed for downstream separation to obtain polymer-grade LA. High-pressure steam was generated from solid debris via anaerobic digestion to complement energy demands partly. Energy consumption was further attenuated by process integration using pinch technology, with around 15% and 11% utility cost savings for Scenario I and II, respectively. These processes were capital-intensive, with 42–46% of LA production cost stemming from direct and indirect costs. Utilities were the major cost-contributing factor (19–21%) due to energy-intensive water evaporation from dilute fermentation broth. Due to additional processing steps, capital investment and operating costs were slightly higher in Scenario I than in Scenario II. LA manufacturing cost was thus more for Scenario I ($2.07 per kg) than Scenario II ($1.82 per kg). The minimum LA selling price for Scenario I and II were $3.52 and $3.22 per kg, respectively, with five-year payback periods and 8.5% internal rates of return. LA was slightly more expensive for decentralized BW processing than the market price.
Open Access
Microbial itaconic acid production from starchy food waste by newly isolated thermotolerant Aspergillus terreus strain
(Elsevier, 2021-06-17) Narisetty, Vivek; Prabhu, Ashish A.; Al-Jaradah, Khalid; Gopaliya, Deeksha; Hossain, Abeer H.; Khare, Sunil Kumar; Punt, Peter J.; Kumar, Vinod
In the present study, we have explored the potential of newly isolated Aspergillus terreus BD strain, which can accumulate itaconic acid (IA) at higher temperature. The shake flask cultivation of thermotolerant strain with medium optimized using Box-Behnken Design at 45 °C resulted in IA accumulation of 28.9 g/L with yield of 0.27 g/g. The enzymatic saccharification of the synthetic food waste (SFW) consisting of potatoes, rice & noodles were optimized using Taguchi method of orthogonal array to maximize the release of fermentable sugar. The maximum glucose release of 0.60 g/g was achieved with 10% biomass loading, 5% enzyme concentration, pH 5.5 and temperature 60 0C. The sugars obtained from SFW was integrated with IA production and maximum IA titer achieved with SFW hydrolysate during bioreactor cultivation was 41.1 g/L with conversion yield of 0.27 g/g while with pure glucose IA titer and yield were 44.7 g/L and 0.30 g/g, respectively.
Open Access
Process optimisation for production and recovery of succinic acid using xylose-rich hydrolysates by Actinobacillus succinogenes
(Elsevier, 2021-10-28) Jokodola, Esther Oreoluwa; Narisetty, Vivek; Castro, Eulogio; Durgapal, Sumit; Coulon, Frederic; Sindhu, Raveendran; Binod, Parameswaran; Banu, J. Rajesh; Kumar, Gopalakrishnan; Kumar, Vinod
Succinic acid (SA) is a top platform chemical obtainable from biomass. The current study evaluated the potential of Actinobacillus succinogenes for SA production using xylose-rich hemicellulosic fractions of two important lignocellulosic feedstocks, olive pits (OP) and sugarcane bagasse (SCB) and the results were compared with pure xylose. Initial experiments were conducted in shake flask followed by batch and fed-batch cultivation in bioreactor. Further separation of SA from the fermented broth was carried out by adapting direct crystallisation method. During fed-batch culture, maximum SA titers of 36.7, 33.6, and 28.7 g/L was achieved on pure xylose, OP and SCB hydrolysates, respectively, with same conversion yield of 0.27 g/g. The recovery yield of SA accumulated on pure xylose, OP and SCB hydrolysates was 79.1, 76.5, and 75.2%, respectively. The results obtained are of substantial value and pave the way for development of sustainable SA biomanufacturing in an integrated biorefinery.
Open Access
Process optimization for recycling of bread waste into bioethanol and biomethane: a circular economy approach
(Elsevier, 2022-05-28) Narisetty, Vivek; Nagarajan, Sanjay; Gadkari, Siddharth; Ranade, Vivek V.; Zhang, Jingxin; Patchigolla, Kumar; Bhatnagar, Amit; Awasthi, Mukesh Kumar; Pandey, Ashok; Kumar, Vinod
Bread is the second most wasted food in the UK with annual wastage of 292,000 tons. In the present work, bread waste (BW) was utilized for fermentative production of ethanol by Saccharomyces cerevisiae KL17. Acidic and enzymatic saccharification of BW was carried out resulting in the highest glucose release of 75 and 97.9 g/L which is 73.5 and 95.9% of theoretical yield, respectively. The obtained sugars were fermented into ethanol initially in shake flask followed by scale up in bioreactor in batch and fed-batch mode. In the fed-batch mode of cultivation, the maximum ethanol titers of 111.3, 106.9, and 114.9 g/L with conversion yield and productivity of 0.48, 0.47, and 0.49 g/g, and 3.1, 3.0, and 3.2 g/L.h was achieved from pure glucose, glucose-rich acidic and enzymatic hydrolysates, respectively. Further to improve the process economics, the solid residues after acidic (ABW) and enzymatic (EBW) hydrolysis of BW along with respective fermentation residues (FR) obtained after the ethanol production were pooled and subjected to anaerobic digestion. The solid residue from ABW + FR, and EBW + FR yielded a biochemical methanation potential (BMP) of 345 and 379 mL CH4/g VS, respectively. Life cycle assessment of the process showed that the total emissions for ethanol production from BW were comparable to the emissions from more established feedstocks such as sugarcane and maize grain and much lower when compared to wheat and sweet potato. The current work demonstrates BW as promising feedstock for sustainable biofuel production with the aid of circular biorefining strategy. To the authors knowledge, this is the first time, such a sequential system has been investigated with BW for ethanol and biomethane production. Further work will be aimed at ethanol production at pilot scale and BMP will be accessed in a commercial anaerobic digester.
Open Access
Recent advances in bio-based production of top platform chemical, succinic acid: an alternative to conventional chemistry
(Springer Nature, 2024-05-29) Kumar, Vinod; Kumar, Pankaj; Maity, Sunil K.; Agrawal, Deepti; Narisetty, Vivek; Jacob, Samuel; Kumar, Gopalakrishnan; Bhatia, Shashi Kant; Kumar, Dinesh; Vivekanand, Vivekanand
Succinic acid (SA) is one of the top platform chemicals with huge applications in diverse sectors. The presence of two carboxylic acid groups on the terminal carbon atoms makes SA a highly functional molecule that can be derivatized into a wide range of products. The biological route for SA production is a cleaner, greener, and promising technological option with huge potential to sequester the potent greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide. The recycling of renewable carbon of biomass (an indirect form of CO2), along with fixing CO2 in the form of SA, offers a carbon-negative SA manufacturing route to reduce atmospheric CO2 load. These attractive attributes compel a paradigm shift from fossil-based to microbial SA manufacturing, as evidenced by several commercial-scale bio-SA production in the last decade. The current review article scrutinizes the existing knowledge and covers SA production by the most efficient SA producers, including several bacteria and yeast strains. The review starts with the biochemistry of the major pathways accumulating SA as an end product. It discusses the SA production from a variety of pure and crude renewable sources by native as well as engineered strains with details of pathway/metabolic, evolutionary, and process engineering approaches for enhancing TYP (titer, yield, and productivity) metrics. The review is then extended to recent progress on separation technologies to recover SA from fermentation broth. Thereafter, SA derivatization opportunities via chemo-catalysis are discussed for various high-value products, which are only a few steps away. The last two sections are devoted to the current scenario of industrial production of bio-SA and associated challenges, along with the author's perspective.
Open Access
Recent advances in biodiesel production: challenges and solutions
(Elsevier, 2021-06-28) Mathew, Gincy Marina; Raina, Diksha; Narisetty, Vivek; Kumar, Vinod; Saran, Saurabh; Pugazhendi, Arivalagan; Sindhu, Raveendran; Pandey, Ashok; Binod, Parameswaran
Mono alkyl fatty acid ester or methyl ethyl esters (biodiesel) are the promising alternative for fossil fuel or petroleum derived diesel with similar properties and could reduce the carbon foot print and the greenhouse gas emissions. Biodiesel can be produced from renewable and sustainable feedstocks like plant derived oils, and it is biodegradable and non-toxic to the ecosystem. The process for the biodiesel production is either through traditional chemical catalysts (Acid or Alkali Transesterification) or enzyme mediated transesterification, but as enzymes are natural catalysts with environmentally friendly working conditions, the process with enzymes are proposed to overcome the drawbacks of chemical synthesis. At present 95% of the biodiesel production is contributed by edible oils worldwide whereas recycled oils and animal fats contribute 10% and 6% respectively. Although every process has its own limitations, the enzyme efficiency, resistance to alcohols, and recovery rate are the crucial factors to be addressed. Without any benefit of doubt, production of biodiesel using renewable feedstocks and enzymes as the catalysts could be recommended for the commercial purpose, but further research on improving the efficiency could be an advantage.
Open Access
Recycling bread waste into chemical building blocks using a circular biorefining approach
(Royal Society of Chemistry, 2021-09-06) Narisetty, Vivek; Cox, Rylan; Willoughby, Nicholas; Aktas, Emel; Tiwari, Brijesh; Matharu, Avtar Singh; Salonitis, Konstantinos; Kumar, Vinod
Food waste is a global problem, causing significant environmental harm and resulting in substantial economic losses globally. Bread is the commonly wasted food item in the developed world and presents a severe problem for the majority of European nations. It is the second most wasted food item in the UK after potatoes, with an equivalent of 20 million slices of bread thrown away daily. Bread is a starchy material and a rich and clean source of easily extractable fermentable sugars – this is in direct contrast to lignocellulosic feedstocks where harsh physical, chemical and/or enzymatic pretreatment processes are required for release of fermentable sugars. Furthermore, these necessary lignocellulosic pretreatment methods often produce sugars contaminated with fermentation inhibitors. Therefore, bread waste presents a clear opportunity as a potential carbon source for novel commercial processes and, to this end, several alternative routes have been developed to utilize bread waste. Possibilities for direct recycling of bread waste within the food industry are limited due to the relatively short material lifetime, stringent process and hygiene requirements. Anaerobic digestion (AD) and incineration are commonly employed methods for the valorisation of bread waste, generating limited amounts of green energy but with little other environmental or economic benefits. Most food wastes and by-products in the UK including bakery waste are treated through AD processes that fail to harness the full potential of the these wastes. This short communication reviews the challenges of handling bread waste, with a focus on a specific UK scenario. The review will consider how bread waste is generated across the supply chain, current practices to deal with the waste and logistics challenges in waste collection. The presence of clean and high-quality fermentable sugars, proteins and other nutrients in bread make it an ideal substrate for generating chemicals, fuels, bioplastics, pharmaceuticals and other renewable products through microbial fermentations. We suggest potential applications for recycling bread waste into its chemical building blocks through a fermentative route where a circular biorefining approach could maximize resource recovery and environmental savings and eliminate waste to as close to zero as possible.