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Updated: Jan 2, 2026

Scalable Step-by-Step Approach of Sustainable Bioplastic Production from Food Waste
Published on: July 18, 2025
Higher load operation by adoption of ethanol fermentation pretreatment on methane fermentation of food waste
Jin Sun1, Yasunori Kosaki2, Nobuhisa Watanabe2
1Applied Chemistry, Environmental and Biomedical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka Institute of Technology, Ohmiya 5-16-1, Asahi-ku, Osaka 535-8585, Japan.
Abstract:
The study aims to examine whether ethanol fermentation pretreatment (EP) of food waste can contribute to high load operation on methane fermentation using an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR). The hydraulic retention time was reduced stepwise from 20 to 5 days to increase the load by increasing the feeding volume. The corresponding organic loading rate (OLR) ranged from 6.6 to 26.5 g-COD/L/day. The control series (without pretreatment) was operable to an OLR of 8.8 g-COD/L/day versus 26.5 g-COD/L/day for the EP series. In the control series, the major volatile fatty acid (VFA) produced by acidogenesis in the reactor was propionic acid because based on Gibbs free energy variations for the methane conversion, acetic acid conversion was not as easy as from propionic acid as from ethanol in the EP series. EP proved effective in avoiding VFA accumulation and subsequent decreased pH. Therefore, EP significantly improves AnMBR performance.
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