Acetate Production from Cafeteria Wastes and Corn Stover Using a Thermophilic Anaerobic Consortium: A Prelude Study for the Use of Acetate for the Production of Value-Added Products

Abstract

Efficient and sustainable biochemical production using low-cost waste assumes considerable industrial and ecological importance. Solid organic wastes (SOWs) are inexpensive, abundantly available resources and their bioconversion to volatile fatty acids, especially acetate, aids in relieving the requirements of pure sugars for microbial biochemical productions in industries. Acetate production from SOW that utilizes the organic carbon of these wastes is used as an efficient solid waste reduction strategy if the environmental factors are optimized. This study screens and optimizes influential factors (physical and chemical) for acetate production by a thermophilic acetogenic consortium using two SOWs—cafeteria wastes and corn stover. The screening experiment revealed significant effects of temperature, bromoethane sulfonate, and shaking on acetate production. Temperature, medium pH, and C:N ratio were further optimized using statistical optimization with response surface methodology. The maximum acetate concentration of 8061 mg L−1 (>200% improvement) was achieved at temperature, pH, and C:N ratio of 60 °C, 6, 25, respectively, and acetate accounted for more than 85% of metabolites. This study also demonstrated the feasibility of using acetate-rich fermentate (obtained from SOWs) as a substrate for the growth of industrially relevant yeast Yarrowia lipolytica, which can convert acetate into higher-value biochemicals.

Microbial Upgrading of Acetate into Value-Added Products—Examining Microbial Diversity, Bioenergetic Constraints and Metabolic Engineering Approaches

“…However, the challenges of toxic products and acetate tolerance still need to be overcome [ 143 , 168 , 179 ]. If the generation of acetate from sustainable sources is combined with its upgrading to value-added chemicals, quality variations of substrates like wastes must also be taken into account and might require clever process design to solve [ 180 ].…”

Environmental Remediation of Antineoplastic Drugs: Present Status, Challenges, and Future Directions

“…This review presents a case for integrating abiotic and biotic modes of ANP degradation. With our decade-long continuous exploration in the field of extremophilic bioprocessing and bioremediation [28][29][30][31][32][33][34], we have identified the scope of thermophilic microbes and thermophilic bioprocessing towards developing sustainable and environment friendly methods of ANP waste degradation.…”