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Organic Waste Valorization for Bioenergy, Biofuels, and Value-Added Products

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "A4: Bio-Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 September 2023) | Viewed by 4713

Special Issue Editors

Department of Environmental Science and Technology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
Interests: bioenergy; renewable chemicals; biohydrogen; biofuels; bioeconomy
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Troy, NY 12180, USA
Interests: bioenergy; fermentation; biopolymers; biofuels
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, 97187 Luleå, Sweden
Interests: biohydrogen; biofuels; fermentation; biorefinery
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The world produces 2.01 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste per annum and the composition of waste is differentiated based on the region of the nation, income level, and population. Organic fractions of municipal waste represent one of the major dumping wastes in our day-to-day life, i.e., including food waste, vegetable waste, fruit waste, etc. As per the 2021’s World Economic Forum reports, 931 million tons of food waste is generated per year, wherein households contribute 61%, food services contribute 26%, and retail contributes 13%. By 2030, it is expected that global waste could reach 3.40 billion tons. Hereafter, it is an alarming situation for the world's scientific community to shift focus toward the development of biological processes which could utilize waste as a substrate, simultaneously playing a role in economic development (Dahiya et al., 2018). Conventionally, food waste is managed through landfills, composting, and anaerobic digestion. Landfill and composting approaches release huge quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere and have fewer economic benefits. Henceforth, upgrading the organic waste utilization processes towards the collective bio-based product synthesis, such as bioenergy, biohydrogen, renewable chemicals, biopolymers, and other value-added products, addresses waste remediation issues and simultaneously promotes a biobased economy.

This Special Issue aims to present and disseminate the most recent advances related to organic waste utilization (food waste, kitchen waste, fruit waste, etc.) for bioenergy, biohydrogen, renewable chemicals, biopolymers, and other value-added products.

Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to:

  • bioenergy production (biohydrogen or biomethane);
  • biopolymers and biocomposites;
  • short-chain and/or medium-chain fatty acids;
  • bioethanol or biodiesel;
  • succinic acid production;
  • resource recovery from waste;
  • biorefinery systems;
  • waste valorization.

Dr. Naresh Kumar Amradi
Dr. Venkateswer Reddy Motakatla
Dr. Omprakash Sarkar
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • organic waste
  • fermentation
  • bioenergy
  • biomaterials
  • resource recovery
  • bioproducts
  • waste valorization

Published Papers (2 papers)

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13 pages, 967 KiB  
Article
An Insight into Post-Consumer Food Waste Characteristics as the Key to an Organic Recycling Method Selection in a Circular Economy
by Krystyna Lelicińska-Serafin, Piotr Manczarski and Anna Rolewicz-Kalińska
Energies 2023, 16(4), 1735; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16041735 - 09 Feb 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1720
Abstract
Reducing the phenomenon of food waste and effective management of already wasted food in the form of post-consumer waste, included in the source-separated organic fraction of municipal solid waste (SS-OFMSW) from households and catering facilities, are some of the key challenges of the [...] Read more.
Reducing the phenomenon of food waste and effective management of already wasted food in the form of post-consumer waste, included in the source-separated organic fraction of municipal solid waste (SS-OFMSW) from households and catering facilities, are some of the key challenges of the circular economy (CE), in particular in highly urbanized areas. The basis for the effective use of this waste is the knowledge of its physical and chemical properties. The main objective of the paper is to identify the key technological and organizational parameters for selective collection determining the characteristics of the SS-OFMSW and, consequently, the optimal path for its management. This paper presents the results of qualitative research of SS-OFMSW generated in the capital of Poland—Warsaw—coming from three sources: multi- and single-family housing and catering facilities. The collection efficiency of this waste was determined in the form of quality in container rate (QCR = 92–97%) and variability in terms of impurities and admixtures present in it (CV = 56–87%). High variability indicates that the system of selective waste collection in Warsaw is immature, which may hinder undertaking activities in the field of waste management planning. The study confirmed the suitability of the tested SS-OFMSW for organic recycling, especially using anaerobic digestion (AD), to which it is predisposed by water content, C/N, and biomethane potential (BMP). All tested food waste is characterized by a high yield of biogas in the range of 384–426 m3/Mg VS and an average share of methane in biogas at the level of 52–61%. Fertilizer properties, moisture, and its gas potential show little variability (CV ≤ 16%), which means that these data can be treated as stable data. The obtained results indicate the optimal direction for the collection and processing of SS-OFMSW based on post-consumer food waste in urbanized areas. Full article
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24 pages, 2384 KiB  
Review
Bioprocessing of Waste for Renewable Chemicals and Fuels to Promote Bioeconomy
by Gayathri Priya Iragavarapu, Syed Shahed Imam, Omprakash Sarkar, Srinivasula Venkata Mohan, Young-Cheol Chang, Motakatla Venkateswar Reddy, Sang-Hyoun Kim and Naresh Kumar Amradi
Energies 2023, 16(9), 3873; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16093873 - 03 May 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2427
Abstract
The world’s rising energy needs, and the depletion of fossil resources demand a shift from fossil-based feedstocks to organic waste to develop a competitive, resource-efficient, and low-carbon sustainable economy in the long run. It is well known that the production of fuels and [...] Read more.
The world’s rising energy needs, and the depletion of fossil resources demand a shift from fossil-based feedstocks to organic waste to develop a competitive, resource-efficient, and low-carbon sustainable economy in the long run. It is well known that the production of fuels and chemicals via chemical routes is advantageous because it is a well-established technology with low production costs. However, the use of toxic/environmentally harmful and expensive catalysts generates toxic intermediates, making the process unsustainable. Alternatively, utilization of renewable resources for bioprocessing with a multi-product approach that aligns novel integration improves resource utilization and contributes to the “green economy”. The present review discusses organic waste bioprocessing through the anaerobic fermentation (AF) process to produce biohydrogen (H2), biomethane (CH4), volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and medium chain fatty acids (MCFA). Furthermore, the roles of photosynthetic bacteria and microalgae for biofuel production are discussed. In addition, a roadmap to create a fermentative biorefinery approach in the framework of an AF-integrated bioprocessing format is deliberated, along with limitations and future scope. This novel bioprocessing approach significantly contributes to promoting the circular bioeconomy by launching complete carbon turnover practices in accordance with sustainable development goals. Full article
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