Producing methane, methanol and electricity from organic waste of fermentation reaction using novel microbes

• Published in: Bioresource technology Vol. 258; pp. 270 - 278
• Main Authors: Dhiman, Saurabh Sudha, Shrestha, Namita, David, Aditi, Basotra, Neha, Johnson, Glenn R., Chadha, Bhupinder S., Gadhamshetty, Venkataramana, Sani, Rajesh K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.06.2018
• Subjects: Food waste; Methane oxidation; Methyloferula stellata; Microbial fuel cell; Thermophilic anaerobic digestion; Food waste; Microbial fuel cell; Thermophilic anaerobic digestion; Methane oxidation; Methyloferula stellata
• ISSN: 0960-8524; 1873-2976
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2018.02.128

[Display omitted] •Methane production under thermophilic conditions using secondary solid waste.•Oxidation of mixed methane gas to liquid biofuel by Methyloferula sp.•Electricity production from secondary liquid organic waste using microbial fuel cell.•Material balancing of integrated processes for sustainable waste management plan.•Channeling of biochemical routes to minimize organic load on environment. Residual solid and liquid streams from the one-pot CRUDE (Conversion of Raw and Untreated Disposal into Ethanol) process were treated with two separate biochemical routes for renewable energy transformation. The solid residual stream was subjected to thermophilic anaerobic digestion (TAD), which produced 95 ± 7 L methane kg−1 volatile solid with an overall energy efficiency of 12.9 ± 1.7%. A methanotroph, Methyloferula sp., was deployed for oxidation of mixed TAD biogas into methanol. The residual liquid stream from CRUDE process was used in a Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) to produce electricity. Material balance calculations confirmed the integration of biochemical routes (i.e. CRUDE, TAD, and MFC) for developing a sustainable approach of energy regeneration. The current work demonstrates the utilization of different residual streams originated after food waste processing to release minimal organic load to the environment.