Bread waste - A potential feedstock for sustainable circular biorefineries

The management of staggering volume of food waste generated (similar to 1.3 billion tons) is a serious challenge. The readily available untapped food waste can be promising feedstock for setting up biorefineries and one good example is bread waste (BW). The current review emphasis on capability of BW as feedstock for sustainable production of platform and commercially important chemicals. It describes the availability of BW (>100 million tons) to serve as a feedstock for sustainable biorefineries followed by examples of platform chemicals which have been produced using BW including ethanol, lactic acid, succinic acid and 2,3-butanediol through biological route. The BW-based production of these metabolites is compared against 1G and 2G (lignocellulosic biomass) feedstocks. The review also discusses logistic and supply chain challenges associated with use of BW as feedstock. Towards the end, it is concluded with a discussion on life cycle analysis of BW-based production and comparison with other feedstocks.

Automated summary

The management of a large amount of food waste, equivalent to 1.3 billion tons, is a major challenge. Bread waste (BW) is a promising feedstock for biorefineries, and this review focuses on its potential for sustainable production of important chemicals. The availability of over 100 million tons of BW as a feedstock for biorefineries is discussed, along with examples of platform chemicals produced from BW, such as ethanol, lactic acid, succinic acid, and 2,3-butanediol. The review compares BW-based production of these metabolites with other feedstocks. It also addresses logistic and supply chain challenges associated with using BW as feedstock, and concludes with a discussion on life cycle analysis and comparison with other feedstocks.