A review of agro-food waste transformation into feedstock for use in fermentation

Paulina Gutiérrez-Macías, Brenda Montañez-Barragán, Blanca E. Barragán-Huerta

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

Food processing by-products and wastes are generated from direct consumption or industrialization of primary products that are no longer useful for food processing. Currently, in several developing countries there is insufficient infrastructure, technology, financial resources, and specific legislation to facilitate proper disposal and provide a final destination for the waste, which can create pollution. Sustainable development based on the concept of biorefinery has produced alternatives that facilitate waste recovery. The food processing by-products can be transformed into biomaterials or biofuels by fermentation; however, the main limitation is availability of fermentable compounds because of the complex chemical structure of biomass. For that reason, some pretreatments are initially applied to the biomass to increase the degree of saccharification and obtain fermentable sugars. Recent advances in technology developed for utilizing food biomass waste for production of fermentable sugars focusing in treatment conditions and the limitations of each are discussed in this review.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3703-3716
Number of pages14
JournalFresenius Environmental Bulletin
Volume24
Issue number11A
StatePublished - 2015

Keywords

  • Biomass
  • Biorefinery
  • Food waste
  • Lignocellulosic
  • Pretreatment

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