Advanced Bioconversion and Valorization of Organic Solid Waste
A special issue of Fermentation (ISSN 2311-5637). This special issue belongs to the section "Industrial Fermentation".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 September 2026 | Viewed by 1150
Special Issue Editor
Interests: waste-activated sludge; food waste; anaerobic fermentation; volatile fatty acids
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The rapid increase in organic solid waste generation, particularly waste-activated sludge and food waste, presents a critical challenge for global urbanization and environmental sustainability. While traditional disposal methods focus on volume reduction and stabilization, the paradigm is shifting towards a circular economy approach. In this context, organic solid waste is increasingly regarded as a renewable reservoir of nutrients and carbon sources. Consequently, developing efficient and sustainable technologies for the high-value valorization of these waste streams has become a priority.
Anaerobic fermentation and digestion have been widely recognized as core technologies for organic solid waste treatment. Beyond traditional methane production, recent research trends are pivoting towards the recovery of higher-value products. These include, but are not limited to, short-chain fatty acids, medium-chain fatty acids, hydrogen and single-cell protein. However, the bioconversion efficiency is often restricted by rate-limiting steps such as hydrolysis, thermodynamic constraints and complex metabolic intermediates.
To address these challenges, novel strategies, such as advanced pretreatment methods, co-fermentation strategies and bio-augmentation, are being developed. Furthermore, since these transformations are fundamentally biological processes, understanding the functional microorganisms and their metabolic networks is crucial. Uncovering the underlying mechanisms via multi-omics approaches (metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, etc.) is urgent for optimizing process stability and yield.
We are inviting research papers and reviews that provide novel insights into the high-value fermentation and conversion of organic solid waste. The aim of this Special Issue is to highlight the latest findings in converting substrates like sludge and food waste into bioenergy and biochemicals.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Production of short-chain fatty acids, medium-chain fatty acids, hydrogen, methane and single-cell protein from organic solid waste.
- Novel pretreatment and conditioning technologies to enhance bioavailability.
- Synergistic effects and mechanisms in the co-fermentation of sludge and food waste.
- Regulation of metabolic pathways for directional product recovery.
- Microbial community assembly and functional analysis in fermentation systems.
- Techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment of high-value conversion processes.
Dr. Yang Wu
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
- organic solid waste
- waste activated sludge
- food waste
- anaerobic fermentation
- short-chain fatty acid
- methane
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