Fungi for Bioprocesses: Food, Biofuel, Biocompounds and Wastewater Treatment

A special issue of Fermentation (ISSN 2311-5637).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2026 | Viewed by 1190

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Technology Center, Federal University of Alagoas, Maceió 57000-000, Brazil
Interests: bioprocesses; biological wastewater treatment; yeast; filamentous fungi; biomass; food technology; biosorption; enzymatic fermentation; microalgae
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The application of microorganisms and the products obtained from them in several sectors is seen positively in the circular economy due to the biodegradability of all of the products and by-products obtained. Fungi are divided in filamentous fungi (molds and mushrooms, mainly) and yeasts. They can be employed in several industrial processes. Some applications include, but are not limited to, the following: (1) use as a fermenter in the food sector (for example, yeast can be used in the production of alcoholic beverages such as wine and beer, and filamentous fungi can be used for the protein enrichment of food by-products), providing food with bioactive compounds; (2) enzymatic fermentation of filamentous fungi, which can be applied in the biofuel production, food, and chemical industries; (3) the production of biofuels such as bioethanol, biodiesel, and biogas from fermenter activity (yeasts) and biomass application; and (4) wastewater treatment, as these microorganisms grow on liquid wastes and biomaterials such as adsorbents (biosorption), especially in tertiary treatment, can be used to recover nitrogen and phosphorus.

In this Special Issue, original and review articles focused on the application of filamentous fungi and yeasts in bioprocesses are welcome.

Dr. Carlos Eduardo De Farias Silva
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • microorganism
  • wastewater treatment
  • protein enrichment
  • bioethanol
  • biodiesel
  • biogas
  • anaerobic digestion
  • tertiary treatment
  • enzyme fermentation
  • biosorption
  • biomass pretreatment
  • biomass hydrolysis
  • biorefinery

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 1759 KB  
Article
Advanced Dairy Wastewater Treatment by Tetradesmus obliquus and Saccharomyces cerivisiae Co-Cultivation: Insights into Nutrient Recovery Applying Batch and Semicontinuous Processes
by Warllisson Yarli Santos Paulino, João Victor Oliveira Nascimento da Silva, Carlos Eduardo de Farias Silva, Larissa Rodrigues Macário, Francine Pimentel de Andrade, Albanise Enide da Silva, Renata Maria Rosas Garcia Almeida and Brígida Maria Villar da Gama
Fermentation 2026, 12(5), 215; https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation12050215 - 27 Apr 2026
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Abstract
Cheese whey, a byproduct of the dairy industry, has a high organic load and nutrient availability, associated with parameters such as chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP), representing an environmental problem when improperly disposed, and even considering the [...] Read more.
Cheese whey, a byproduct of the dairy industry, has a high organic load and nutrient availability, associated with parameters such as chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP), representing an environmental problem when improperly disposed, and even considering the traditional biological wastewater treatment (secondary treatment), a polishing step (tertiary treatment) could be required in order to meet legislation parameters of discharge in water bodies. This study evaluated the efficiency of co-cultivation between the microalga Tetradesmus obliquus and the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae during the tertiary (advanced) treatment of dairy effluent. The process was operated in batch mode to optimize the COD:N ratio and, subsequently, in semicontinuous mode applying the volumetric replacement rates (VRRs) of 40% and 60%. In the batch stage, the COD:N ratio of 20 stood out as the most balanced in terms of nutritional requirement, achieving removal rates of 85.49% for COD, 96.23% for total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), and 100% for TP. In the semicontinuous system, a VRR of 40% optimized nitrogen (91.67%) and phosphorus (95.93%) recovery while COD was also removed (71.68%). The pH remained stable within the range of 7.0 to 7.5 at the end of the process, indicating self-buffering of the consortium. Biomass production reached 915 mg·L−1 (dry cell weight) in batch operation mode and 720 mg·L−1 in semicontinuous mode (VRR of 40%). The results confirmed that the T. obliquus and S. cerevisiae co-cultivation constitutes a stable and sustainable strategy for nutrient recovery during dairy wastewater treatment, aligning with the principles of circular bioeconomy. Full article
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14 pages, 544 KB  
Article
Modelling of Cordycepin Production by an Engineered Aspergillus oryzae Under Different Substrates
by Siwaporn Wannawilai, Jutamas Anantayanon, Thanaporn Dechpreechakul, Kobkul Laoteng and Sukanya Jeennor
Fermentation 2026, 12(4), 174; https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation12040174 - 30 Mar 2026
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Abstract
Given the therapeutic potential of bioactive cordycepin in medical and healthcare products, precision fermentation using an engineered strain of Aspergillus oryzae was performed to enhance cordycepin production. To understand and predict the dynamics of cell growth and cordycepin production in this fungal strain, [...] Read more.
Given the therapeutic potential of bioactive cordycepin in medical and healthcare products, precision fermentation using an engineered strain of Aspergillus oryzae was performed to enhance cordycepin production. To understand and predict the dynamics of cell growth and cordycepin production in this fungal strain, mathematical modeling of submerged fermentation was applied. The effects of different nitrogen sources (yeast extract, peptone, (NH4)2SO4, NH4Cl, NaNO3, and KNO3) and carbon sources (glucose and cassava starch hydrolysate, CSH) on cell growth and cordycepin production were evaluated under submerged fermentation conditions. The results showed that organic nitrogen sources significantly enhanced biomass formation and cordycepin production compared with inorganic nitrogen sources. Among them, yeast extract provided the best performance, yielding the highest biomass (13.63–15.99 g/L) and cordycepin titer (1.24–1.72 g/L). In contrast, nitrate-based nitrogen sources supported cell growth but resulted in negligible cordycepin production. Under optimized conditions in a bioreactor, both glucose and CSH supported fungal growth, although CSH promoted higher biomass formation while glucose favored cordycepin biosynthesis. The kinetic model demonstrated that the growth of engineered A. oryzae was well described by the logistic growth model (R2 > 0.88). The cordycepin production profiles were well fitted by the Luedeking–Piret model (R2 > 0.99), indicating a mixed growth-associated product with kinetic constants α and β representing growth-associated and non-growth-associated production, respectively. Overall, the developed kinetic model provides a quantitative framework for describing cell growth, substrate utilization, and cordycepin formation, offering guidance for process optimization and scale-up of cordycepin production in engineered fungal systems. Full article
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