An integrated engineering system for maximizing bioenergy production from food waste

In this study, an integrated engineering system was developed for bioenergy production from food waste pre-treated with a cost-effective and highly active enzyme mixture, namely fungal mash which was also in-situ produced from food waste. Under the optimized conditions, 141.5 g/L of glucose was obtained with 67.5% of total solid reduction after hydrolysis of food waste by fungal mash, while 71.8 g/L of bioethanol was produced from subsequent glucose fermentation. The remaining hydrolysis residue was further anaerobically digested for biomethane production with 22.8% of total solid reduction. As the result, about 90% of total solid reduction of food waste was achieved in the integrated engineering system with the outputs of bio-renewable energy in the forms of bioethanol and biomethane. The cost-benefit analysis clearly suggests that the bioenergy production from food waste in the proposed integrated engineering system is technically feasible and economically viable.