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Fermentation
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Fermentation of Organic Waste for High-Value-Added Product Production—2nd Edition
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Fermentation of Organic Waste for High-Value-Added Product Production—2nd Edition

A special issue of Fermentation (ISSN 2311-5637). This special issue belongs to the section "Industrial Fermentation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2026 | Viewed by 3261

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Hongbo Liu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Environment and Ecology, Jiangnan University, No. 1800, Lihu Avenue, Wuxi City, China
Interests: anaerobic fermentation technology and membrane bioreactors
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the rapid development of the global economy, organic waste is sharply increasing. However, traditional treatment technologies present many issues, such as the low added value of products. Therefore, the development of high value conversion technologies for organic waste is promising. The main purpose of this Special Issue is to report novel technologies and new principles of the high-added-value biotransformation of organic waste via fermentation, or to review the relevant technologies and principles. The scope of this Special Issue mainly includes anaerobic or aerobic fermentation of organic waste to produce high-value-added products, including volatile fatty acids, medium chain fatty acids, polyhydroxyalkanoates, etc.

Prof. Dr. Hongbo Liu
Guest Editor

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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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. Fermentation is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2100 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

  • fermentation
  • organic waste
  • sewage sludge
  • food waste
  • algae
  • agricultural straw
  • brewery wastewater
  • food wastewater
  • slaughterhouse wastewater
  • volatile fatty acids
  • medium-chain fatty acids
  • polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA)

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 2939 KB  
Article
Caproate Production from Yellow Water Fermentation: The Decisive Roles of Electron Donors
by Kai Shen, Xing Chen, Jiasheng Shi, Xuedong Zhang, Yaya Sun, He Liu, Salma Tabassum and Hongbo Liu
Fermentation 2025, 11(12), 689; https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation11120689 - 12 Dec 2025
Viewed by 625
Abstract
Caproate is a valuable medium-chain fatty acid (MCFA) that is found to be extensively used in biofuel production, food preservation, and the pharmaceutical industries. Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) from waste streams can be upgraded sustainably through their biological synthesis via anaerobic chain elongation. [...] Read more.
Caproate is a valuable medium-chain fatty acid (MCFA) that is found to be extensively used in biofuel production, food preservation, and the pharmaceutical industries. Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) from waste streams can be upgraded sustainably through their biological synthesis via anaerobic chain elongation. However, caproate production is frequently limited in real-world systems due to low carbon conversion efficiency and a lack of electron donors. In this study, we developed a two-stage fermentation strategy employing yellow water—a high-strength organic wastewater from liquor manufacturing—as a novel substrate. During primary fermentation, Lactobacillus provided endogenous electron donors by converting the residual carbohydrates in the yellow water into lactic acid. Nano zero-valent iron (NZVI) was introduced to the secondary fermentation to enhance power reduction and electron flow, further promoting caproate biosynthesis. The caproate production increased significantly due to the synergistic action of lactic acid and NZVI, reaching a maximum concentration of 20.41 g·L−1 and a conversion efficiency of 69.50%. This strategy enhances carbon recovery and electron transport kinetics while lowering dependency on expensive external donors like hydrogen or ethanol. Microbial community analysis using 16S rRNA sequencing revealed enrichment of chain-elongating bacteria such as Clostridium kluyveri. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of employing an integrated fermentation–electron management technique to valorize industrial yellow water into compounds with added value. This study offers a scalable and environmentally sound pathway for MCFA production from waste-derived resources. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fermentation of Organic Waste for High-Value-Added Product Production—2nd Edition)
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14 pages, 2505 KB  
Article
Coupling Granular Activated Carbon with Waste Iron Scraps Enhances Anaerobic Digestion of PBAT Wastewater: Performance Improvement and Mechanistic Insights
by Chunhua He, Jingjing Wen, Zhiqiang Huang, Qilong Jin, Ziyao Li, Hua Zhang, Houyun Yang, Jian Huang, Wei Wang and Hao Hu
Fermentation 2025, 11(11), 614; https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation11110614 - 28 Oct 2025
Viewed by 1145
Abstract
Poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) wastewater, characterized by high chemical oxygen demand (COD) and acidity, poses significant challenges to anaerobic digestion (AD) due to toxicity and volatile fatty acids (VFAs) accumulation. This study coupled granular activated carbon (GAC) and waste iron scraps (WISs) to synergistically [...] Read more.
Poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) wastewater, characterized by high chemical oxygen demand (COD) and acidity, poses significant challenges to anaerobic digestion (AD) due to toxicity and volatile fatty acids (VFAs) accumulation. This study coupled granular activated carbon (GAC) and waste iron scraps (WISs) to synergistically enhance AD performance. Batch experiments demonstrated that, compared with the control, the GAC/WISs group achieved a COD removal efficiency of 53.18% and a methane production of 207.53 ± 5.80 mL/g COD, which were 5.48- and 12.14-fold increases, respectively, while reducing the accumulation of total VFAs by 98.48% (to 15.09 mg/L). Mechanistic analysis revealed that GAC adsorbed inhibitors and enriched methanogens, while WISs buffered pH and promoted direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) through hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis. Metagenomic sequencing showed shifts in microbial communities, with enrichment of syntrophic bacteria (Syntrophobacter) and functional genes (pta, bcd, and pccA), indicating metabolic reprogramming. This study provided a theoretical foundation and engineering strategy for the anaerobic treatment of PBAT wastewater. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fermentation of Organic Waste for High-Value-Added Product Production—2nd Edition)
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14 pages, 3172 KB  
Article
Transforming Tilapia into Indoleacetic Acid-Containing Biostimulants: Synergistic Effect of Enzymolysis and Multi-Strain Fermentation
by Hanyi Xie, Bin Zhong, Qimin Zhang, Xi Hu, Xuesen Xia, Hong Xie and Zhenqiang Wu
Fermentation 2025, 11(9), 525; https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation11090525 - 8 Sep 2025
Viewed by 988
Abstract
Following new trends in green development, many studies have focused on the high-value utilization of fish resources through green biological processes. This study innovatively introduced a one-step process of mixed strain–enzyme synergy (MES) with which to prepare tilapia hydrolysates and explored the synergistic [...] Read more.
Following new trends in green development, many studies have focused on the high-value utilization of fish resources through green biological processes. This study innovatively introduced a one-step process of mixed strain–enzyme synergy (MES) with which to prepare tilapia hydrolysates and explored the synergistic effects of strains and enzymes on both the protein hydrolysis process and its products’ characteristics via comparative experiments. Further, soybean was used as a model crop to verify the agronomic effects of the hydrolysates. The addition of exogenous papain increased hydrolysis by 31.94% compared to the fermentation-only group. Peptides and amino acids contents in the mixed strains were higher than those in the single fermentation process (p < 0.05), while 8.46 mg/L of indoleacetic acid was produced through fermentation. Hydrolysates promoted the growth of lateral roots in soybean seedlings (p < 0.05) via the use of a 2500-fold dilution of the biostimulant, increasing the root area and stem length and reducing the sugar content of soybean seedlings by 1.59-, 1.44- and 1.69-fold compared to those in Hoagland’s nutrient solution. These results lay a foundation for the biological preparation of biostimulants for hydroponic vegetables through the utilization of fish waste resources, aligning with green development goals. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fermentation of Organic Waste for High-Value-Added Product Production—2nd Edition)
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