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Biotechnology for Agro-Industrial ResiduesUtilisation

Poonam Singh nee’ Nigam · Ashok PandeyEditors

Biotechnologyfor Agro-IndustrialResidues Utilisation

Utilisation of Agro-Residues

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EditorsPoonam Singh nee’ NigamUniversity of UlsterFaculty of Life & HealthSciencesColeraineNorthern IrelandUnited Kingdom BT52 [email protected]

Ashok PandeyNational Institute forInterdisciplinaryScience & TechnologyCSIR, Industrial Estate [email protected]

ISBN 978-1-4020-9941-0 e-ISBN 978-1-4020-9942-7

DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-9942-7

Library of Congress Control Number: 2009920465

c© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmittedin any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recordingor otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exceptionof any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being enteredand executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work.

Printed on acid-free paper

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springer.com

DEDICATED BY POONAM TO her dearest mother ROOPA NIGAMAnd in loving memory of her late father

MAHESH CHANDRA NIGAM, who left too early.

Preface

Industries from two large sectors, i.e. agriculture and food for most of its historyhave been environmentally benign. Industrial activity has always resulted in somekind of pollution, be it solid waste, wastewater or gaseous pollution. Even whentechnology began to have an impact, reliance on natural and ecological processesremained crucial. Crop residues were incorporated into the soil or fed to livestockand the manure returned to the land in amounts that could be absorbed and utilized.Since farms have become highly mechanized and reliant on synthetic fertilizers andpesticides, the crop residues, which were once recycled, are now largely wasteswhose disposal presents a continuing problem for the farmer.

The agro-industrial residues consist of many and varied wastes from agricultureand food industry, which in total account for over 250 million tonnes of waste peryear in the UK alone. The prospects and application of biotechnical principles fa-cilitates these problems to be seen in a new approach, as resources, which in manycases have tremendous potential. As a result an extensive range of valuable andusable products can be recovered from what was previously considered waste. Thisencompasses a huge area of microbial-biotechnology with many possibilities thathave been researched; and such findings have shown the massive potential whenthey are practically and economically applied.

Although several agricultural residues can be disposed of safely (due to biodegrad-able nature) in the environment, the vast quantities in which they are generated asa result of diverse agricultural and industrial practices, necessitates the requirementto look for some avenues where these could be utilized for some application. Sincethese are rich in organic nature, they represent one of the most energy-rich resourceson the planet. Accumulation of this kind of biomass in large quantities every yearresults not only in the deterioration of the environment, but also in the loss of po-tentially valuable material which can be processed to yield a number of valuableadded products, such as food, fuel, feed and a variety of chemicals. These residuesinclude renewable lignocellulosic materials such as the stalks, stems, straws, hullsand cobs which all vary slightly in composition. Cellulose and hemicellulose, themajor constituents of these materials, can be referred to as valuable resources fora number of reasons, largely due to the fact that they can be bio-converted for theproduction of several valuable products.

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Thus, today, for better or for worse, we live in a society with a throw away at-titude which often chooses in many cases to ignore the potential that is all aroundit. Particularly in the case of agriculture, there can be considerable damage to theenvironment which is already being continually put under increasing stress by wastedisposal. Furthermore it is often quite expensive to dispose of these wastes this isnot to mention the economic loss of not exploiting them properly in the first place.Biotechnology can offer many viable alternatives to the disposal of agriculturalwaste with the production of many much needed products such as fuels, feeds, andpharmaceutical products.

Therefore, this book has been presented with the up-to-date information availableon a biotechnology approach for the utilisation of agro-industrial residues. The bookcontains twenty four chapters by the experts working in the field of Biotechnologyfor Agro-Industrial Residues Processing. Each of the chapters includes informationon materials and suitable technology for their utilization and bioconversion methodsto obtain products of economic importance. The chapters have been categorised inappropriate sections: (1) General; (2) Production of industrial products using agro-industrial residues as substrates; (3) Biotechnological potential of agro-industrialresidues for bioprocesses; (4) Enzymes degrading agro-industrial residues and theirproduction; and (5) Bioconversion of agro-industrial residues.

It is hoped that the book will provide a useful information resource for academics,researchers, and industries.

Northern Ireland, UK Poonam Singh nee’ NigamTrivandrum, Kerala, India Ashok Pandey

Acknowledgements

Editors sincerely thank all contributing authors of the chapters included in this bookfor their cooperation in submitting and revising their manuscripts on due dates as perguidelines of the publisher Springer. Thanks for the approval of our book-proposalon this particular topic are due to Peter Butler, publishing director; Dugald Mac-Glashan, senior publishing editor; and Sara Huisman, publishing assistant, SpringerScience & Business Media B.V. Efforts of Max Haring and Agnieszka Brodawka,are acknowledged for realising the production of this book. Finally, the supportextended by our families could make this project possible.

Northern Ireland, UK Poonam Singh nee’ NigamTrivandrum, Kerala, India Ashok Pandey

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Contents

Part I General

1 Agro-Industrial Residue Utilization for Industrial BiotechnologyProducts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Erick J. Vandamme

2 Pre-treatment of Agro-Industrial Residues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Poonam Singh nee’ Nigam, Nutan Gupta and Ashish Anthwal

Part II Production of Industrial Products Using Agro-Industrial Residuesas Substrates

3 Production of Organic Acids from Agro-Industrial Residues . . . . . . . . 37Poonam Singh nee’ Nigam

4 Biofuels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Soham Chattopadhyay, Asmita Mukerji and Ramkrishna Sen

5 Production of Protein-Enriched Feed Using Agro-IndustrialResidues as Substrates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77J. Obeta Ugwuanyi, Brian McNeil and Linda M. Harvey

6 Aroma Compounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105Syed G. Dastager

7 Production of Bioactive Secondary Metabolites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129Poonam Singh nee’ Nigam

8 Microbial Pigments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147Sumathy Babitha

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9 Production of Mushrooms Using Agro-Industrial Residues asSubstrates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Antonios N. Philippoussis

10 Solid-State Fermentation Technology for Bioconversion of Biomassand Agricultural Residues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197Poonam Singh nee’ Nigam and Ashok Pandey

Part III Biotechnological Potential of Agro-Industrial Residues forBioprocesses

11 Biotechnological Potentials of Cassava Bagasse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225Rojan P. John

12 Sugarcane Bagasse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239Binod Parameswaran

13 Edible Oil Cakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253Swetha Sivaramakrishnan and Dhanya Gangadharan

14 Biotechnological Potential of Fruit Processing Industry Residues . . . . 273Diomi Mamma, Evangelos Topakas, Christina Vafiadi and PaulChristakopoulos

15 Wine Industry Residues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293Bo Jin and Joan M. Kelly

16 Biotechnological Potential of Brewing Industry By-Products . . . . . . . . 313Solange I. Mussatto

17 Biotechnological Potential of Cereal (Wheat and Rice) Straw andBran Residues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327Hongzhang Chen, Ye Yang and Jianxing Zhang

18 Palm Oil Industry Residues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341Mynepalli K.C. Sridhar and Olugbenga O. AdeOluwa

Part IV Enzymes Degrading Agro-Industrial Residues and Their Production

19 Amylolytic Enzymes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359Dhanya Gangadharan and Swetha Sivaramakrishnan

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20 Cellulolytic Enzymes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371Reeta Rani Singhania

21 Pectinolytic Enzymes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383Nicemol Jacob

22 Ligninolytic Enzymes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397K.N. Niladevi

Part V Bioconversion of Agro-Industrial Residues

23 Anaerobic Treatment of Solid Agro-Industrial Residues . . . . . . . . . . . . 417Michael Ward and Poonam Singh nee’ Nigam

24 Vermicomposting of Agro-Industrial Processing Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431V.K. Garg and Renuka Gupta

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457

Contributors

Olugbenga O. AdeOluwa Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture,University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria, [email protected]

Ashish Anthwal Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, AtmosphericEnvironment Laboratory, Sejong University, Gwangjin-Gu, Seoul 143-747,Republic of Korea, [email protected]

Sumathy Babitha Skin Bioactive Material Laboratory, Inha University, Yong-hyunong, Nam-gu, Incheon 402-751, Republic of Korea, [email protected]

Soham Chattopadhyay Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute ofTechnology, Kharagpur, West Bengal 721302, India, [email protected]

Hongzhang Chen State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Institute ofProcess Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, PR China,[email protected]

Paul Christakopoulos Biotechnology Laboratory, School of ChemicalEngineering, National Technical University of Athens, Zografou 157 80, Athens,Greece, [email protected]

Syed G. Dastager National Institute of Interdisciplinary Science and Technology(Formerly RRL), CSIR, Industrial Estate, Thiruvananthapuram-695019, Kerala,India, [email protected]

Dhanya Gangadharan Biotechnology Division, National Institute forInterdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST), CSIR, Trivandrum-695 019,Kerala, India, dhanya [email protected]

V.K. Garg Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, GuruJambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar 125001, Haryana, India,[email protected]

Nutan Gupta School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Life and HealthSciences, University of Ulster, Coleraine, BT521SA, Northern Ireland, UK,[email protected]

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xvi Contributors

Renuka Gupta Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, GuruJambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar 125001, Haryana, India,[email protected]

Linda M. Harvey Strathclyde Fermentation Centre, Strathclyde Institute forPharmacy & Biomedical Science, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland,UK, [email protected]

Nicemol Jacob Biotechnology Division, National Institute for Interdisci-plinary Science and, Technology (CSIR), Trivandrum, 695019, Kerala, India,[email protected]

Bo Jin School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, School of ChemicalEngineering, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia,[email protected]

Rojan P. John Biotechnology Division, National Institute for Interdisci-plinary Science and Technology, CSIR, Trivandrum 695 019, Kerala, India,[email protected]

Joan M. Kelly School of Molecular and Biomedical Sciences, The University ofAdelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia, [email protected]

Diomi Mamma Biotechnology Laboratory, School of Chemical Engineering,National Technical University of Athens, Zografou 157 80, Athens Greece,[email protected]

Brian McNeil Strathclyde Fermentation Centre, Strathclyde Institute forPharmacy & Biomedical Science, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland,UK, [email protected]

Asmita Mukerji Department of Biotechnology, Anandapur, East KolkataTownship, Kolkata 700 107, India, [email protected]

Solange I. Mussatto Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Centreof Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Braga 4710-057, Portugal,[email protected]

Poonam Singh nee’ Nigam Faculty of Life and Health Sciences, School ofBiomedical Sciences, University of Ulster, Coleraine BT521SA, Northern Ireland,UK, [email protected]

K.N Niladevi Biotechnology Division, National Institute for InterdisciplinaryScience and, Technology (CSIR), Trivandrum 695019, Kerala, India,[email protected]

Ashok Pandey National Institue for Interdisciplinary Science and Tech-nology, CSIR, Industrial Estate PO, Trivandrum-695 019, Kerala, India,[email protected]

Contributors xvii

Binod Parameswaran Bioenergy Research Centre, Korea Institute ofEnergy Research (KIER), Yusong, Daejon 305-343, Republic of Korea,[email protected]

Antonios N. Philippoussis National Agricultural Research Foundation, I.A.A.C.,Laboratory of Edible and Medicinal Fungi, 13561 Ag, Anargyri, Athens, Greece,[email protected]

Ramkrishna Sen Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of TechnologyKharagpur, West Bengal 721302, India, [email protected]

Reeta Rani Singhania Biotechnology division, National Institute for In-terdisciplinary Science and Technology, Trivandrum 695 019, Kerala, India,reetasinghania [email protected]

Swetha Sivaramakrishnan Biotechnology Division, National Institute forInterdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST), CSIR, Trivandrum 695 019,Kerala, India, [email protected]

Mynepalli K.C. Sridhar Division of Environmental Health Sciences, Faculty ofPublic Health, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria, [email protected]

Evangelos Topakas Biotechnology Laboratory, School of Chemical Engineering,National Technical University of Athens, Zografou 157 80, Athens, Greece,[email protected]

J. Obeta Ugwuanyi Department of Microbiology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka,Enugu, Nigeria, [email protected]

Christina Vafiadi Biotechnology Laboratory, School of Chemical Engineering,National Technical University of Athens, Zografou 157 80, Athens, Greece,[email protected]

Erick J. Vandamme Laboratory of Industrial Microbiology and Biocatalysis,Department Biochemical and Microbial Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engi-neering, Ghent University, B-9000 GENT, Belgium, [email protected]

Michael Ward Centre for Vision Science, Queens University of Belfast,Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast BT12 6BA, Northern Ireland, UK, [email protected]

Ye Yang State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Institute ofProcess Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, PR China,[email protected]

Jianxing Zhang State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Institute ofProcess Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, PR China,[email protected]

Part IGeneral

Chapter 1Agro-Industrial Residue Utilizationfor Industrial Biotechnology Products

Erick J. Vandamme

Contents

1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.2 Fermentation and Biocatalysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51.3 Currently Used Renewable Agrosubstrates as Industrial Fermentation Substrates . . . . . . 5

1.3.1 Carbohydrates as Carbon Substrate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61.3.2 Plant Oils as Carbon Substrate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71.3.3 Nitrogen Sources, Used in Industrial Fermentation Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81.3.4 Nutrient Selection Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

1.4 Towards Agro-Industrial Residue Utilization Technology in Industrial Biotechnology . . 10References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Keywords Renewable-resources · Microbial-nutrition · Industrial fermentationsubstrates · Bio-chemicals versus petrochemicals · Submerged and solid statefermentation

1.1 Introduction

As worldwide demand for petroleum, our main fossil-resource to produce energy,chemicals and materials is steadily increasing, particularly to satisfy the fast grow-ing economies of countries such as China and India, petroleum prices are expectedto continue to rise further. The effect can be seen today, with petroleum prices over130 $/barrel at the time of writing (May 2008). Whereas this fossil resource willcertainly not become exhausted from one day to another, it is clear that its price willfollow a long-term upward trend. Its scarcity and high price will not only afflict thechemical industries and energy sectors drastically all around the world, but it willimpact on society as a whole (Soetaert and Vandamme 2006).

E.J. Vandamme (B)Laboratory of Industrial Microbiology and Biocatalysis, Department Biochemical and MicrobialTechnology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000GENT, Belgiume-mail: [email protected]

P. Singh nee’ Nigam, A. Pandey (eds.), Biotechnology for Agro-Industrial ResiduesUtilisation, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-9942-7 1,C© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009

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Consequently, concerns have arisen about our future energy and chemicals sup-ply. In the first place, this has caused an ongoing search for renewable energysources that will in principle never run out, such as hydraulic energy, solar energy,wind energy, tidal energy, geothermal energy and also energy from renewable rawmaterials such as biomass. Biomass can be defined as “all organic material of vegetalor animal origin, which is produced in natural or managed ecosystems (agriculture,aquaculture, forestry), all or not industrially transformed”. Bioenergy, the renewableenergy released from biomass, is indeed expected to contribute significantly in themid to long term. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), bioenergyoffers the potential to meet 50% of our world energy needs in the 21st century. Thesame hold true for the synthesis of fine and bulk chemicals, materials and polymers,now also mainly based on fossil resources, petroleum, gas and coal. The chemicalindustry will be confronted with the switch to utilize biomass sooner than antici-pated.

In contrast to these fossil resources, bulk agricultural raw materials such aswheat, rice or corn have till a few years ago been continuously low (and evendeclining) in price because of increasing agricultural yields, a tendency that hasrecently drastically changed, with the competition between biomass for food useversus biomass for chemicals or biofuels use, becoming a societal issue. However,climate changes, droughts, high oil prices and the switch to non-vegetarian diets infast developing economies such as China are actually the main underlying causes ofthe increasing food prices. New developments such as plant genetic engineering –specifically of industrial or energy crops (Van Beilen 2008) – and the production ofbioenergy and chemicals from agricultural waste and agro-industrial residues canrelieve these trends (Morris 2006, Zhang 2008). Agricultural crops such as corn,wheat, rice and other cereals, sugar cane and beet, potato, tapioca, etc. are nowalready processed in the starch and sugar refineries into relatively pure carbohydratefeedstocks (starch, sugars,. . .), primary substrates for the food industries, but alsofor most industrial fermentation processes and for some chemical processes (Dahod1999, Kamm and Kamm 2004). Especially fermentation processes can convert thoseagro-feedstocks into a wide variety of valuable chemical products, including biofu-els such as bioethanol, and organic solvents such as butanol (Demain 2000, 2007,Kunz 2008, Soetaert and Vandamme 2005, 2008, Wall et al. 2008).

Oilseeds such as soybeans, rapeseed (canola) and oilpalm seeds (but also wastevegetal oils and animal fats) are equally processed into oils that are subsequentlyconverted into food ingredients and oleo-chemicals, but recently increasingly intobiodiesel (Canakci and Sanli 2008, Vasudevan and Briggs 2008).

While these technologies are rather mature, agro-industrial residues or wastestreams such as straw, bran, beet pulp, corn cobs, corn stover, oil cakes, wastewood,. . .all rich in lignocellulosic materials, are now either poorly valorized or leftto decay on the land. (Sarath et al. 2008, Zhang 2008). These residues are nowalready efficiently converted into biogas and used for heat, steam or electricity gen-eration. These waste materials attract now increasingly attention as an abundantlyavailable and cheap renewable feedstock for chemicals, materials and biofuels pro-duction. Improved physical, chemical and biotechnological treatments must nowquickly be developed to upgrade and valorize these agro-industrial side streams.

1 Agro-Industrial Residue Utilization for Industrial Biotechnology Products 5

Estimates from the USA Department of Energy have shown that up to 500 milliontonnes of such raw materials can be made available into the USA each year, at pricesranging between 20 – 50 $/ton.

This volume will focus on the biotechnological potential of using and upgradingrenewable resource-“leftovers”, especially the agro-industrial processing residues(now left unused when biomass is processed largely into food, but also into chem-icals or fiber/materials). Emphasis will be put on fermentation and biocatalysisprinciples and processes as very suitable technologies for upgrading these agro-industrial residues in a sustainable way.

1.2 Fermentation and Biocatalysis

It is only now being fully realized by the chemical industry that microorganisms(bacteria, yeast and fungi, micro-algae) are an inexhaustible source of a wide rangeof useful chemical compounds: indeed, an ever increasing number of fine andbulk chemicals, solvents, food additives, enzymes, agrochemicals and biopharma-ceuticals is now being produced based on microbial biotechnology via industrialfermentation or biocatalysis processes (Demain 2007, Vandamme 2007). Often,there is no alternative route for their synthesis but fermentation. Also bioconver-sion reactions, based on the use of (immobilised) microbial biocatalysts (cells orenzymes), yield useful interesting regio- and enantioselective molecules under mildreaction conditions, often starting from racemic precursors (Vandamme et al. 2005,2006). Furthermore, all these microbial processes have a positive environmentalimpact (Table 1.1). These microbial products generally display desired chirality,are biodegradable and practically all are produced, starting from renewable (agro)-substrates, till now mainly starch and sugars. Indeed, these nutrient substrates, whichare the “workhorse” ingredients in industrial fermentation processes worldwide, aremainly derived from agricultural crops, being processed in the established sugar andstarch refineries. Agricultural practice as well as this industrial processing leads toagro-industrial residues, which should be considered now also as nutrient substrates,rather than as a waste!

Table 1.1 Sustainability-related properties of fermentation and bioconversion derived chemicals

- Produced from renewable agrosubstrates and agro-industrial residues- Mild reaction conditions→ “green chemistry”- Biodegradable- Desired chirality

1.3 Currently Used Renewable Agrosubstrates as IndustrialFermentation Substrates

Worldwide, the feedstock for fermentation processes is provided directly or indi-rectly by agriculture: indeed cereal grains, plant tubers, plant oils, crop residuesand agro-industrial products, side or waste streams are main sources of microbial

6 E.J. Vandamme

Table 1.2 Currently used typical carbon sources in industrial fermentation processes

Carbohydrates:Corn flour Cane molassesStarch (from various plant sources) Beet molassesDextrins SucroseGlucose syrups Sulfite waste liquorDextrose Wood hydrolysateMaltose Organic acidsWhey Agro-industrial wasteLactose

Oils and Alcohols:Soybean oil, methyloleate GlycerolCorn oil, cottonseed oil, peanut oil,. . . PolyolsPalm oil, . . . HydrocarbonsLardoil, fish oil Methanol

Ethanol

nutrients. With respect to the carbon and nitrogen source, most are plant derived,but certain microbial nutrients are of animal origin (i.e. peptones, lactose, whey,. . .) or are derived from yeast (Dahod 1999) (Table 1.2). There is a general trend toreplace these animal derived nutrients for plant derived ones, due to the threat andtransfer of prion diseases.

1.3.1 Carbohydrates as Carbon Substrate

Although carbohydrates in general serve many other important functions, especiallybulk carbohydrates serve as a nutrient source of carbon for the large scale cultiva-tion of microorganisms (Table 1.3). Cheap carbohydrates such as beet and canemolasses, sucrose, starch or its hydrolysates and glucose syrups are almost univer-sally used as renewable carbon sources in large scale fermentation processes. Theworldwide total usage of carbohydrate-nature feedstock for industrial fermentationprocesses has been estimated at 4.107 tons per year. Molasses are produced bothfrom cane or beet; the product is actually the mother liquor separated from the crys-tallized sucrose. The total fermentable sugar is in the range of 50–55% by weightand it is used extensively (often as a mix) in the fermentation of bulk products suchas yeast, ethanol, monosodium glutamate, citric acid, industrial enzymes, and manyothers. It is also a source of nitrogen, minerals, vitamins and growth factors. Itsvarying composition is often a drawback, such that standardisation, pre-treatmentand addition of further nutrients are needed, depending on the fermentation processenvisaged.

Starch generally cannot be used in its native form as far as most fermentationapplications are concerned, since it undergoes gelatinisation during sterilisation ofthe fermentation broth, resulting in high viscosity. Liquefaction with an �-amylase isneeded to decrease this viscosity. Such liquefied starch can be used as carbon source,if the microorganisms involved produce the needed glucoamylases i.e. many bacilli


Table 1.3 Important functions of carbohydrates

Common:– Diet of living organisms, including microorganisms– Energy source– Storage compounds– Biological “construction” material– Substrate for chemical derivatisation

Special:– “Messenger” molecules: receptors, recognition sites,

lectin interactions, immunostimulants, . . .

– Unusual sugars– Chiral intermediates– Biopolymers, bioplastics

Bulk:Sucrose: > 100 × 106 tons/yearGlucose: > 10 × 106 tons/yearCarbohydrate fermentation feedstock: 4 × 107 tons/year

and fungi. Maltodextrins result from enzymatic or acid hydrolysis of starch and canbe used as such i.e. for the production of antibiotics (to avoid glucose cataboliterepression) i.e. penicillin, cephalosporin, streptomycin,

Glucose syrups are obtained by the action of amylases on starch liquefacts, a pro-cess called saccharification. These syrups (85–90% glucose), also known as starchhydrolysates, are most frequently used in fermentation applications: i.e. for produc-tion of citric acid, gluconic acid, itaconic acid, L-amino acids (monosodiumgluta-mate, L-lysine, L-threonine,. . .), xanthan, curdlan, scleroglucan, erythritol, severalantibiotics, . . .. For the production of lactic acid and several other chemicals, pureglucose (dextrose) is often preferred to facilitate the product recovery.

Maltose syrups, obtained by �-amylase action on starch liquefacts, are suitablein fermentations, where a glucose repression effect is active, as is the case in severalantibiotic fermentations.

Sulfite waste liquor, a side product of the paperpulp manufacturing process, isrich in pentose-sugars and can be utilized by Candida yeasts and several other mi-croorganisms as a carbon source.

Currently, well defined – rather pure – carbon sources are preferred in industrialfermentations, due to constraints imposed by the microorganisms involved, but alsowith a simple downstream processing of the end product in mind.

1.3.2 Plant Oils as Carbon Substrate

Another interesting substrate for fermentation processes are the plant lipids andoils (Table 1.2), commonly used in fermentations of bulk antibiotics such as the�-lactam group (penicillins and cephalosporins), the tetracyclines, the macrolidesand the antifungal polyenes.

8 E.J. Vandamme

Although carbohydrate substrates are relatively easily handled, as compared toplant oils, molasses and starch sources may need costly pre-treatment or hydroly-sis. However oils contain about 2,5 times the energy content of glucose per weightbasis: 8880 kcal/kg oil versus 3722 kcal/kg glucose. On a volume basis, oils displayanother advantage: it takes 1.24 litres of soybean oil to provide 10 kcal of energyinto a fermentor, while it takes about 5 litres of sugar (50% ww) solution to reachthat value (Stowell et al. 1987). Oils also display anti-foam properties and can actas a precursor in certain biosurfactant and antibiotic fermentations i.e. the polyeneantifungal. On the other hand, utilization of oils necessitates handling two-phasesystem fermentations, demands a higher oxygen input and relies on microbial strainsdisplaying lipase activity.

1.3.3 Nitrogen Sources, Used in IndustrialFermentation Processes

Crude pertinacious plant, animal and yeast derived products are commonly usedas complex nitrogen sources in fermentation processes: in addition to nitrogen andcarbon, they also supply vitamins, growth factors and minerals for microbial growth.Some examples are given in Table 1.4.

Yeast derived products are generally produced from baker’s and brewer’s yeast,grown themselves on molasses, malt extract or occasionally on other agro-wastesubstrates. Yeast extracts as well as yeast autolysates and hydrolysates are in use;all of them should be tested as to their suitability for a given microbial strain, usedin a particular fermentation process.

Peptones are obtained by partial enzymatic hydrolysis of proteins of animal,dairy or plant origin (meat, gelatin, casein, whey protein, soy protein,. . .). Therecent emergence of prion diseases among breeded animals has created a greaterdemand for protein hydrolysates derived from other sources such plants, fish andother marine sources.

Corn steep liquor is a fermented by-product of the cornwet-milling process; it isrich in minerals as well as in amino acids, vitamins and growth factors and is in use

Table 1.4 Typical nitrogen sources, used in fermentation processes

Plant derived Yeast derived

Corn steep liquor (CSL) Yeast extractCorn gluten meal Yeast autolysateCottonseed flour Yeast hydrolysatePeanut meal, linseed meal, rice meal, . . . Distillers dried solubles

wheat flour,. . ..Soybean meal

Others Animal DerivedNH+

4 , NO−3 , N2 Peptones (meat, fish,. . .)

Urea Lard waterMilk proteins (casein,. . .)


as a nutrient source in many industrial fermentation processes for i.e. penicillin G,amino acids, enzymes, biopesticides.

Again, all these crude nitrogen sources are directly or indirectly derived fromagricultural products or their industrial processing.

1.3.4 Nutrient Selection Criteria

The ultimate choice of nutrient source type for a given fermentation process is acomplex decision, based on imperatives given by the microbial strain involved, orthe nature of the end product (Table 1.5) and on technical and economic consid-erations (Table 1.6). For a single antibiotic process, as many as ten quite differentcarbon substrates have been used for commercial production, depending on prevail-ing economics and on geographical location of the production plant.

Table 1.5 Selection of starch, maltose or glucose based feedstock for fermentation processes

Fermentation product Starch maltose glucose Reason of preferred use (+)

Polyols: Erythritol + Higher yield and reduced purificationsteps, as compared to sucrose ormolasses

Organic acids: Gluconic: + Molecular structureItaconic

+ Molecular structureAmino acids: Lysine + Yield and reduced purification stepsPolysaccharides: + Molecular structureXanthan Cyclodextrins + Molecular structure

+Enzymes: + Catabolite repressionCarbohydrases: +(fedbatch)

Proteases ++(fedbatch)

Antibiotics: + Purity of productMacrolides: + Molecular structureTetracyclines: + Catabolite repressionPenicillin G: +(fedbatch)

Vitamins: B12 + Purity of product

Table 1.6 Economic and technical considerations in the selection of fermentation nutrient sources

Availability Consistency of nutritional qualityCost per unit of nutrient Flexibility in applicationTransportation cost Rheological propertiesPrice stability Surface tension factorsPre-treatment costs Product recovery impactStabilization costs Process yieldStorage costs Product concentration and typeSafety factors Overall productivity

10 E.J. Vandamme

Some important factors in comparing the benefits and/or disadvantages of usingcrude or refined carbohydrates or oils as carbon source in industrial fermentationshave been compiled by Stowell et al. (1987). The key point here is that microor-ganisms can convert these abundantly available and renewable nutrient sources intoa vast range of very complex biochemical’s with often unsuspected application po-tential (Demain 2000). Submerged fermentation has been the mainstay industrialbiotechnology production process in use, but as increasingly crude (solid) agro-industrial residues will become available, solid state fermentation processes willexperience a remarkable revival in the near future (Robinson et al. 2001).

1.4 Towards Agro-Industrial Residue UtilizationTechnology in Industrial Biotechnology

When switching to agro-industrial residues or even agro-waste streams, the bottle-neck remains to release the fermentable sugars, left in the lignocellulosic matrix, themain component of these residues (Zhang 2008, Sarath et al. 2008, Vasudevan andBriggs 2008, Canakci and Sanli 2008).

Special pre-treatments of these agro-industrial side streams is a prerequisite:mechanical (thermo) physical, chemical and enzymatic pre-treatments will beprimordial in most cases, before microbial fermentation technology or enzymaticupgrading (biocatalysis) can start. An exception here is the use of solid state fer-mentation technology, where crude lignocellulosics are directly provided as a sub-strate for microbial productions (Robinson et al. 2001). The switch to agro-industrialresidues will also put even more emphasis on pre-treatment (upstream) – and ondownstream-processing costs in the overall economics of such “second generation”fermentation processes!

These physical, (thermo) chemical, mechanical and enzymatic pre-treatments arecovered by experts in detail in the first chapters of this volume, as well as the prin-ciples of solid state versus submerged fermentation.

Subsequently, the potential of a wide range of agro-industrial residues to serve asnutrient source for industrial biotechnology processes is covered. Also the produc-tion potential of a wide range of fine and bulk chemicals, fuels and materials basedon these agro-industrial residues is discussed. If these processes materialize in thenear future, it will relief drastically current societal tension whether to use biomassand crops for food or for platform chemicals and biofuels (Morris 2006).

References

Canakci M and Sanli H (2008) Biodiesel production from various feed stocks and their effects onthe fuel properties. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 35: 431–441

Dahod SK (1999) Raw materials selection and medium development for industrial fermentationprocesses, pp. 213–220 In “Manual of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology” (2nd ed);(Demain, A.L. and Davies, J.E., eds.) ASM Press, Washington DC


Demain AL (2000) Small bugs, big business: the economic power of the microbe. Biotechnol Adv18: 499–514

Demain AL (2007) The business of biotechnology. Ind Biotechnol 3: 269–283Kamm B and Kamm M (2004) Principles of biorefineries. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 64: 137–145Kunz M (2008) Bio-ethanol: Experiences from running plants, optimization and prospects. Biocat

Biotransf 26: 128–132Morris D (2006) The next economy: From dead to living carbon. J Sci Food Agric 86: 1743–1746Robinson T, Singh D, and Nigam P (2001) Solid state fermentation: A promising microbial tech-

nology for secondary metabolite production. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 55: 284–289Sarath G, Mitchel RB, Satler SE, Funnell D, Pedersen JF, Graybosch RA, and Vogel KP (2008)

Opportunities and roadblocks in utilizing orages and small grains for liquid fuels. J Ind Micro-biol Biotechnol 35: 343–354

Soetaert W and Vandamme EJ (2005) Biofuel production from agricultural crops. In: Biofuelsfor fuel cells: Renewable energy from biomass fermentation, pp. 37–50 In “Series IntegratedEnvironmental Technology” (Lens, P., Westerman, P., Haberbauer, M., and Moreno, A., eds.)IWA Publ., UK.

Soetaert W and Vandamme EJ (2006) The impact of industrial biotechnology. Biotechnol J 1(7–8):756–769

Soetaert W and Vandamme EJ (2009) Biofuels, 242 pp. In “Renewable Resources series” (Stevens,C., Series ed.) J Wiley & Sons Ltd. ISBN 978-0-470-02674-8

Stowell JD, Beardsmore AS, Keevil CW, and Woodward JR (1987) Carbon Substrates in Biotech-nology IRL-Press, Oxford-Washington DC

Van Beilen JB (2008) Transgenic plant factories for the production of biopolymers and platformchemicals. Biofuels Bioprod Bioref 2: 215–228

Vandamme EJ (2007) Microbial gems: Microorganisms without frontiers. SIM-News 57(3): 81–91Vandamme EJ, Cerdobbel A, and Soetaert W (2005) Biocatalysis on the rise: Part 1 Principles.

Chem Today 23(6): 47–51Vandamme EJ, Cerdobbel A, and Soetaer W (2006) Biocatalysis on the rise: Part 2 Applications.

Chem Today 24(1): 57–61Vasudevan PT and Briggs M (2008) Biodiesel production: Current state of art and challenges. J Ind

Biotechnol 35: 421–430Wall JD, Harwood CS, and Demain AL (2008) “Bioenergy”. ASM-Press, Washington DCZhang YHP (2008) Reviving the carbohydrate economy via multi-product lignocellulose biore-

fineries. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 35: 367–375

Chapter 2Pre-treatment of Agro-Industrial Residues

Poonam Singh nee’ Nigam, Nutan Gupta and Ashish Anthwal

Contents

2.1 Agro-Industrial Residues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142.1.1 Types of Agro-Industrial Residues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

2.2 Composition of Residues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152.3 Annual Yield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162.4 Uses of Agro-Industrial Residues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172.5 Pre-treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192.6 Physical Pre-treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

2.6.1 Steam Explosion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202.6.2 Hydrothermal Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212.6.3 Irradiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

2.7 Chemical Pre-treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212.7.1 Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222.7.2 Organosolvents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222.7.3 Ozone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232.7.4 Peroxyformic Acid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

2.8 Biological and Enzymatic Pre-treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232.8.1 White-Rot Fungi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

2.9 Combined Pre-treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282.9.1 Gamma Irradiation and Sodium Hydroxide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282.9.2 Sodium Hydroxide and Solid State Fermentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Abstract Problem of management of agro-industrial residues complicate the farm-ing economies. Agro-industrial residues are the most abundant and renewable re-sources on earth. Accumulation of this biomass in large quantities every year resultsnot only in the deterioration of the environment, but also in the loss of potentiallyvaluable material which can be processed to yield a number of valuable added prod-ucts, such as food, fuel, feed and a variety of chemicals. The agro-industrial residues

P. Singh nee’ Nigam (B)Faculty of Life and Health Sciences, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Ulster,Coleraine, BT521SA, Northern Ireland, UKe-mail: [email protected]

P. Singh nee’ Nigam, A. Pandey (eds.), Biotechnology for Agro-Industrial ResiduesUtilisation, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-9942-7 2,C© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009

13

14 P. Singh nee’ Nigam et al.

have alternative uses or markets. Pre-treatment is an important tool for breakdown ofthe structure of these residues mainly formed of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin.Cellulose is present in large quantities in agro-industrial residues. As hemicelluloseand cellulose are present in the cell wall they undergo lignification hence there isan increasing need to have an effective and economic method to separate celluloseand hemicellulose from cell wall. Various pre-treatment methods such as physical,chemical, biological (enzymatic) and combined are available. Physical and chem-ical treatments breakdown the materials present in the agro-industrial residues. Asglucose is readily used by the microorganisms and is present in cellulose, biologi-cal pre-treatment by microrganisms is also a good method. Enzymes like phytase,laccase, LiP, MnP are produced by these microrganisms and help in delignification,bleaching, and manufacture of animal feed etc.

Keywords Agro-industrial · Pre-treatment · Physical · Enzymatic · Chemical ·Microorganisms

2.1 Agro-Industrial Residues

Agro-industrial residues are directly burnt as fuel in developing world that includescrop residues, forest litter, grass and animal garbage. Crop residues are more widelyburnt than animal waste and forest litter.

Agro-industrial residues are derived from the processing of a particular crop oranimal product usually by an agricultural firm. Included in this category are ma-terials like molasses, bagasse, oilseed cakes and maize milling by-products andbrewer’s wastes. Crop residues encompass all agricultural wastes such as straw,stem, stalk, leaves, husk, shell, peel, lint, seed/stones, pulp, stubble, etc. which comefrom cereals (rice, wheat, maize or corn, sorghum, barley, millet), cotton, groundnut,jute, legumes (tomato, bean, soya) coffee, cacao, olive, tea, fruits (banana, mango,coco, cashew) and palm oil.

2.1.1 Types of Agro-Industrial Residues

Agro-industrial residues are of a wide variety of types, and the most appropriateenergy conversion technologies and handling protocols vary from type to type. Themost significant division is between those residues that are predominantly dry (suchas straw) and those that are wet (such as animal slurry).

2.1.1.1 Dry Residues

These include those parts of arable crops not to be used for the primary purpose ofproducing food, feed or fibre.

2 Pre-treatment of Agro-Industrial Residues 15

a. Field and Seed Crop

Field and seed crop residues are the materials remaining above the ground afterharvesting, including straw or stubble from barley, beans, oats, rice, rye, and wheat,stalks, or stovers from corn, cotton, sorghum, soybeans, and alfalfa.

b. Fruit and Nut crop

Fruit and nut crop residues include orchard prunings and brushes. The types offruit and nut crops include almonds, apples, apricots, avocados, cherries, dates, figs,grapefruit, grapes, lemons, limes, olives, oranges, peaches, pears, plums, prunes,and walnuts.

c. Vegetable Crop

Vegetable crop residues consist mostly of vines and leaves that remain on the groundafter harvesting. The types of vegetable crops include such plants as artichokes,asparagus, cucumbers, lettuce, melon, potatoes, squash, and tomatoes.

d. Nursery Crop

Nursery crop residues include the prunings and trimmings taken from the plants dur-ing their growth and in the preparation for market. There are more than 30 differentspecies of nursery crops (e.g. flowers and indoor plants, etc.) that are grown.

2.1.1.2 Wet Residues

These are residues and wastes that have high water content as collected. These in-clude:

a. Animal Slurryb. Farmyard manurec. Grass silage

Silage is forage biomass harvested and fermented for use as winter fodder for cattleand sheep. Grass silage is harvested in the summer and stored anaerobically in asilage clamp under plastic sheeting.

2.2 Composition of Residues

Agro-industrial residues consist of lignocellulose that is compact, partly crystallinestructure consisting of linear and crystalline polysaccharides cellulose, branchednon cellulosic and non-crystalline heteropolysaccharides (hemicelluloses), andbranched (non crystalline) lignin (Glasser et al. 2000).

Cellulose is made up of a linear polymer chain, which in turn consists of a seriesof hydroglucose units in glucan chains (Fig. 2.1). The hydroglucose units are heldtogether by �-1-4 glycosidic linkages, producing a crystalline structure that can be


OH

OH

OH

OH

OH

OH OH

OH

OH

OH

OH

OH

O O O O

O

O

O

O

Fig. 2.1 Structure of cellulose

broken down more readily to monomeric sugars. Another major component of thelignocellulose structure is hemicelloluse, which is made up of various polysaccha-rides, namely, xylose, galactose, mannose and arabinose. The function of hemicel-lulose has been proposed as a bonding agent between lignin and cellulose. Mannosehas been used as a fermentable substrate since many years, with more specific yeastbeing able to utilize arabinose and xylose. Hemicellulose is composed of linearand branched heteropolymers of L-arabinose, D-galactose, D-glucose, D-mannose,and D-xylose. Methyl or acetyl groups are attached to the carbon chain to variousdegrees. Hemicellulose and cellulose, constitute 13–39% and 36–61% of the totaldry matter, respectively.

Lignin found in nature is made of three monomers which are biosynthesized inplants through shikimic acid pathway. It is made by an oxidative coupling of threemajor C6–C3 phenypropanoid units, namely sinapyl alcohol, coniferyl alcohol andp-coumaryl alcohol. These are arranged in a random, irregular three dimensionalnetwork that provide strength and structure and is consequently very resistant toenzymatic degradation (Fig. 2.2).

CH2OH

OHp-coumaryl

alcoholconiferylalcohol

sinapylalcohol

OH OHOMe

OMe = OCH3methoxyl group

OMe MeO

CH2OH CH2OH

Fig. 2.2 Monomers of lignin

p-Coumaryl alcohol is a minor component of grass and forage type lignins.Coniferyl alcohol is the predominant lignin monomer found in softwoods. Bothconiferyl and sinapyl alcohols are the building blocks of hardwood lignin.

2.3 Annual Yield

Agro-industrial residues are an ideal energy source if the two components can besuccessfully separated or treated. Over 300 million tons of lignocellulose are pro-duced annually worldwide. In UK there are nearly 2 million ha of wheat and 1 mil-lion ha of barley. Over half a million ha of oilseed rape which is generally ploughed


back, partly as it is very friable and does not lend itself conveniently to collection.Smaller areas of oats (100,000 ha), rye (9,000 ha) and triticale (13,000 ha), all ofwhich can yield straw. In the UK, as a result of insufficient summer warmth to fullyripen the grain, most maize production (around 100,000 ha) is grown as a foragecrop and used for high quality silage, with only about 2,500 ha for grain, in the farsouth of England.

This renewable biomass has the potential to be used for the production of fuels,chemicals, animal feed etc. Sometimes these agro-industrial residues are seen aswaste and pose disposal problems for the associated industries. This can be solvedthrough its utilization, turning a valueless waste into a valuable substrate for fer-mentation processes. The main components of agro-industrial residues are shown inTable 2.1.

Table 2.1 Main components of agro-industrial residues

Agro-industrialresidues

Lignin(wt %)

Cellulose(wt %)

Hemicellulose(wt %) References

Corn cobs 6.1±15.9 33.7±41.2 31.9±36.6 Ropars et al. 1992Sugarcane

baggase10±20 40±41.3 27±37.5 Schaffeld 1994a

Wheat straw 8.9±17.3 32.9±50 24±35.5 Bjerre et al. 1996.Rice straw 9.9±24 36.2±47 19±24.5 Patel and Bhatt 1992Corn stalks 7±18.4 35±39.6 16.8±35 Barrier et al. 1985.Barley straw 13.8±14.5 33.8±37.5 21.9±24.7 Fan et al. 1987Rye straw 19.0 37.6 30.5 Fan et al. 1987Oat straw 17.5 39.4 27.1 Fan et al. 1987Flax 22.3 34.9 23.6 Fan et al. 1987Soya stalks 19.8 34.5 24.8 Fan et al. 1987Sunflower

stalks13.44 42.10 29.66 Jimenez et al. (1990)

Vine shoots 20.27 41.14 26.00 Jimenez et al. (2007)Cotton stalks 21.45 58.48 14.38 Jimenez et al. (2007)Sunflower

seed hulls29.40 24.10 28.60 Dekker and Wallis 1983

Thistle 22.1 31.1 12.2 JimeAnez and Loapez 1993

2.4 Uses of Agro-Industrial Residues

Agro-industrial residues can be used in many ways because they are cheap, abundantand their use will provide us with environmental and economic benefits:

a. Barley straw is used for animal bedding and feedb. In UK around 40% of wheat straw is chopped and returned to the soil, 30% used

on the farm (for animal bedding and feed), and 30% is sold.c. Chopped straw can reduce phosphate and potassium needed for the following

crop, and can help conserve soil moisture and structure.


d. The ash from burning or gasifying straw can be used to return minerals to the soilhowever cannot contribute organic matter or help soil structure.

e. Corn Stover is used as biomass which is low carbon sustainable fuel that candeliver a significant reduction in net carbon emissions when compared with fossilfuels.

f. Rice straw can be used as pulp for paper becoming an ideal solution for theCalifornia and Oregon rice burning conundrum.

g. Agro-industrial residues produce ethanol, bioethanol a product of high potentialvalue containing minor quantities of soluble sugars, pectin, proteins, mineralsand vitamins. Bioethanol produced from renewable biomass has received con-siderable attention in current years. Using ethanol as a gasoline fuel additive aswell as transportation fuel helps to alleviate global warming and environmentalpollution (Fig. 2.3).

h. They also have potential to produce biogas under anaerobic fermentationconditions.

i. For soil nutrient recycling and improvement purposes and may therefore be dis-placing significant quantities of synthetic fertilizers or other products.

j. In USA and Canada, the straws of wheat, barley, oats and rye, and the husks ofrice have been utilised in mixture with wood fibers in the production of pulp,particleboards and fibreboards (Hesch 1978, Loken et al. 1991, Knowles 1992).

Fig. 2.3 Ethanol productionfrom ligocellulosic materiali.e agroindustrial residues.Adapted from Olsson andHagerdal (1996)


k. In Asia, husks of rice have been used to produce cement-boards (Govindarao 1980).l. China and Japan also have made attempts to utilize Indian cane fibers in com-

bination with wood fibers and foamy plastics to produce various kinds of wood-boards (Wang and Joe 1983)

m. Production of charcoal and briquettes (Hulscher et al. 1992, TDRI 1983).

2.5 Pre-treatments

As glucose is readily fermented by most microorganisms, yielding a variety ofproducts, it is very much in demand by the fermentation industries. Glucose ascellulose is present in large quantities in agro-industrial residues. Because hemi-cellulose and cellulose present in the cell wall undergo lignification, an effectiveand economic method must be used to separate cellulose and hemicellulose fromcell wall. To make monomeric sugar utilization from these residues a viable op-tion, various physical, chemical and biological pre-treatments have been exploredTable 2.2.

Table 2.2 Pre-treatment of Agro-industrial residues

Pre-treatment Examples Effect of Pre-treatment References

Physical Milling Fine, highly decrystalizedstructure

Li et al. 2007

Steam Explosion,Steaming treatment

Increased poresize/hemicellulose-hydrolysis

Kokta et al. 1992

Hydrothermal Hemicellulose hydrolysis,alteration in properties ofcellulose and lignin.

Sun andTomkinson 2002

Irradiation Depolymerization Aoyama et al. 1995

Chemical NaOH, NH3, H202

Peroxyformic acid,Lignin/ hemicellulose

degradationSingh et al. 1988

OrganosolventsPeroxymonosulphate Activates deliginification Stewart 2000

Biological White-rot fungi(Bjerkendra adusta,Phanerochaetechysoporium,Ceriporiopsissubvermispora)

Lignin degradation Diana et al (2002)

Specific bacteria

Enzymatic Lignin Peroxidases (LiP,MnP, laccase)

Selectivelignin/hemicellulosedegradation

Aoyama 1996

biotechnology for agro-industrial residues utilisationhongzhang chen state key laboratory of...

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