Maria R. Kosseva

Use of immobilised biocatalysts in the processing of cheese whey

Food processing industry operations need to comply with increasingly more stringent environmental regulations related to the disposal or utilisation of by-products and wastes. These include growing restrictions on land spraying with agro-industrial wastes, and on disposal within landfill operations, and the requirements to produce end products that are stabilised and hygienic. Much of the material generated as wastes by the dairy processing industries contains components that could be utilised as substrates and nutrients in a variety of microbial/enzymatic processes, to give rise to added-value products. A good example of a waste that has received considerable attention as a source of added-value products is cheese whey. The carbohydrate reservoir of lactose (4-5%) in whey and the presence of other essential nutrients make it a good natural medium for the growth of microorganisms and a potential substrate for bioprocessing through microbial fermentation. Immobilised cell and enzyme technology has also been applied to whey bioconversion processes to improve the economics of such processes. This review focuses upon the elaboration of a range of immobilisation techniques that have been applied to produce valuable whey-based products. A comprehensive literature survey is also provided to illustrate numerous immobilisation procedures with particular emphasis upon lactose hydrolysis, and ethanol and lactic acid production using immobilised biocatalysts.

Processing of food wastes.

Every year almost 45 billion kg of fresh vegetables, fruits, milk, and grain products is lost to waste in the United States. According to the EPA, the disposal of this costs approximately

Production of L(+) lactic acid using Lactobacillus casei from whey

1 billion. In the United Kingdom, 20 million ton of food waste is produced annually. Every tonne of food waste means 4.5 ton of CO(2) emissions. The food wastes are generated largely by the fruit-and-vegetable/olive oil, fermentation, dairy, meat, and seafood industries. The aim of this chapter is to emphasize existing trends in the food waste processing technologies during the last 15 years. The chapter consists of three major parts, which distinguish recovery of added-value products (the upgrading concept), the food waste treatment technologies as well as the food chain management for sustainable food system development. The aim of the final part is to summarize recent research on user-oriented innovation in the food sector, emphasizing on circular structure of a sustainable economy.

Food Industry Wastes: Assessment and Recuperation of Commodities

The aim of this work was to study the fermentation of whey for the production of L(+) lactic acid using Lactobacillus casei. The effect of different process parameters such as pH of the medium, temperature, inoculum size, age of inoculum, agitation and incubation time was monitored to enhance the lactose conversion in whey to L(+) lactic acid. Fermentations were performed without any pH control. The optimization of the fermentation conditions resulted in significant decrease in fermentation time, besides increase in lactose conversion to lactic acid. The optimized process conditions resulted in high lactose conversion (95.62%) to L(+) lactic acid production (33.73 g/L) after an incubation period of 36 h.

Management and Processing of Food Wastes

Food Industry Wastes: Assessment and Recuperation of Commodities presents emerging techniques and opportunities for the treatment of food wastes, the reduction of water footprint, and creating sustainable food systems. Written by a team of experts from around the world, this book will provide a key resource for implementing processes as well as giving researchers a starting point for the development of new options for the recuperation of these waste for community benefit.There were over 34 million tons of food waste generated in the US alone in 2009 - at a cost of approximately

Trends in the biomanufacture of polyhydroxyalkanoates with focus on downstream processing

43 billion. And while less than 3% of that waste was recovered and recycled, there is growing interest and development in finding ways to utilize this waste in ways that will not only reduce greenhouse gasses, but provide energy, and potentially provide resources for other purposes.

Chapter 5 – Recovery of Commodities from Food Wastes Using Solid-State Fermentation

Every year almost 45 billion kg of fresh vegetables, fruits, milk, and grain products is lost to waste in the United States. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the disposal of this costs approximately

Recent European Legislation on Management of Wastes in the Food Industry

1 billion. In the United Kingdom, 20 million ton of food waste is produced annually. Every tonne of food waste means 4.5 ton of CO 2 emissions. The food wastes are generated largely by the fruit-and-vegetable/olive oil, fermentation, dairy, meat, and seafood industries. The aim of this work is to provide a comprehensive literature survey on food waste management techniques and processing technologies, developed during the last 20 years. The article consists of three major parts, which distinguish recovery of added-value products (the upgrading concept), the food-waste-treatment technologies, as well as the food-chain management for sustainable food system development. This article summarizes recent research on user-oriented innovation in the food sector, emphasizing on circular structure of a sustainable economy.

Chapter 8 – Use of Immobilized Biocatalyst for Valorization of Whey Lactose

The aim of the current review is to analyze trends in development of an efficient technology for polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biomanufacture highlighting the up-to-date progress on PHA biosynthesis and focusing on the downstream processing. Three main production pathways were identified: through microbial, enzymic, or plant routes. Microbial fermentation processes were predominant, with a wide range of microorganisms, starting materials and culture conditions reported. Largely, two schemes for recovering PHAs from the reaction medium post fermentation were identified: dissolving biomass to separate PHAs granules with strong oxidants, and extracting PHAs directly from the biomass using suitable solvents. For the valuable industrial scale biosynthesis of PHA several technological elements need to be applied such as robust whole-cell microbial catalyst with its optimal culturing conditions, suitable carbon source, proper mode of process operation, as well as economical and ecological purification methods.

Chapter 6 – Functional Food and Nutraceuticals Derived from Food Industry Wastes

This chapter evaluates the recovery of commodities from food wastes using the current state of our knowledge in the area of solid-state fermentation (SSF). The agro-industrial residues can be used as substrates in SSF to produce industrially relevant metabolites with a great economic advantage. Much remains to be done in the area to develop commercial processes with techno-economical feasibility. This chapter provides an overview of the engineering aspects of SSF and their application to the design and operation of various bioreactor types (trays, packed beds, rotating/stirred drums, and mixed reactors with forced aeration), identifying where further work is necessary. Examples of products of SSF illustrated include bulk chemicals like organic acids (lactic, citric and gamma-linolenic acids), ethanol, industrial enzymes, polysaccharides, and nutrient-enriched animal feeds, as well as fine chemicals: antibiotics from a cellulosic waste, pigments and flavor compounds from fruit/vegetable residues. We also present a survey on various individual groups of enzymes such as amylolytic, cellulolytic, ligninolytic, pectinolytic, proteolitic, etc., and major parameters that affect their microbial synthesis in a SSF system.