Butanol Production from Food Waste

Waste is currently a major problem in the world. Hence, utilization of food waste for fuel and chemical production can positively affect both the energy and environmental sustainability. Haibo Huang of the University of Illinois in Urbana investigated using food waste as feedstock for Clostridium beijerinckii P260 to produce acetone, butanol, and ethanol (ABE).

The team used food waste as feedstock and the culture produced a slightly more ABE at a higher ABE fermentation rate and yield compared to fermentation using glucose. However, fermentation of food waste at higher concentrations did not remarkably increase ABE production and resulted in high residual glucose due to butanol inhibition.

The team then applied a vacuum stripping system to recover butanol from the fermentation broth to relieve the butanol inhibition and allow fermentation of food waste at high concentrations. This increased the vacuum fermentation by 109 % compared to the control fermentation.

The study demonstrated that food waste is a superior feedstock for producing butanol using Clostridium beijerinckii. Compared to glucose, ABE fermentation of food waste has several advantages including lower cost, higher productivity, and less residual sugars.