Valorisation of confectionary industry wastes for the microbial production of polyxydroxyalkanoates

摘要

By-product and waste streams from the food industry could be regarded as ideal renewable feedstocks for theproduction of value-added products. The utilisation of food processing wastes could lead to the developmentof a sustainable chemical industry and a food industry that will cause less environmental concerns. This willbe achieved via simultaneous substitution of fossil raw materials and reduction or even elimination of severeenvironmental burdens caused by the current disposal and treatment of food waste streams. This work isfocused on the bioconversion of flour-rich waste streams generated from a confectionary industry for theproduction of the biodegradable polymer poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB). The flour-rich waste streams usedin this study were taken either as waste generated from the processing line or as out-of-date products thathave been returned from the market. These flour streams contained mainly starch and protein. They wereconverted into a fermentation feedstock (a 95 % of starch to glucose conversion was achieved) usingenzyme-rich crude extracts from solid state fermentations conducted on wheat bran by the fungal strainAspergillus awamori. When an initial concentration of 80 g/L flour-rich wastes were used, the two-stagebioprocess led to the production of hydrolysates that contained 70.8 g/L glucose concentration and 237.65mg/L free amino nitrogen (FAN). The hydrolysate was employed for the production of PHB via microbialbioconversion in shake flasks and a 3 L bioreactor using the bacterial strain Cupriavidus necator DSM 4058.Shake flask fermentations using different glucose and free amino nitrogen concentrations led to theproduction of up to 5.95 g/L PHB concentration. The PHB structure and thermal properties were analysed byFourier infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).