Concise review on ethanol production from food waste: development and sustainability

The development of sustainable bioethanol fuel production from food waste has increasingly become an attractive topic. Food waste is recognized as the most available and costless feedstock. Therefore, ethanol production has been adopted as cost-efficient and an ecological way for FW disposal. This paper reviewed the microorganisms utilized for ethanol fermentation, the effect of enzymatic hydrolysis on ethanol concentration, optimization of accurate process parameters, and recycling of huge volumes of stillage for ethanol production towards reducing any incurred environmental burdens and minimizing the cost. The statistical tools which may enhance the process efficiency had been presented. Also, the perspective and the future development were introduced. All these aimed to fully utilize the food waste and also reduce the cost for side-product in this process; proper operation conditions and the control methods for stillage recycling were considered as the methods to improve ethanol fermentation from food waste.