Boosting aerobic microbial protein productivity and quality on brewery wastewater: Impact of anaerobic acidification, high-rate process and biomass age

Gustavo Papini; Maarten Muys; Tim Van Winckel; Francis A Meerburg; Wannes Van Beeck; Pieter Vermeir; Siegfried E Vlaeminck

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2022.128285

Boosting aerobic microbial protein productivity and quality on brewery wastewater: Impact of anaerobic acidification, high-rate process and biomass age

Bioresour Technol. 2023 Jan:368:128285. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2022.128285. Epub 2022 Nov 9.

Authors

Gustavo Papini¹, Maarten Muys¹, Tim Van Winckel¹, Francis A Meerburg², Wannes Van Beeck¹, Pieter Vermeir³, Siegfried E Vlaeminck⁴

Affiliations

¹ Research Group of Sustainable Energy, Air and Water Technology, Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerpen, Belgium.
² Independent scholar, Dijkstraat 8, 2630 Aartselaar, Belgium.
³ Laboratory of Chemical Analysis, Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Ghent University, Valentin Vaerwyckweg 1, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
⁴ Research Group of Sustainable Energy, Air and Water Technology, Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerpen, Belgium. Electronic address: Siegfried.Vlaeminck@UAntwerpen.be.

PMID: 36368491
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2022.128285

Abstract

Consortia of aerobic heterotrophic bacteria (AHB) are appealing as sustainable alternative protein ingredient for aquaculture given their high nutritional qualities, and their production potential on feed-grade industrial wastewater. Today, the impacts of pre-treatment, bioprocess choice and key parameter settings on AHB productivity and nutritional properties are unknown. This study investigated for the first time AHB microbial protein production effects based on (i) raw vs anaerobically fermented brewery wastewater, (ii) high-rate activated sludge (HRAS) without vs with feast-famine conditions, and (iii) three short solid retention time (SRT): 0.25, 0.50 and 1.00 d. High biomass (4.4-8.0 g TSS/L/d) and protein productivities (1.9-3.2 g protein/L/d) were obtained while achieving COD removal efficiencies up to 98 % at SRT 0.50 d. The AHB essential amino acid (EAA) profiles were above rainbow trout requirements, excluding the S-containing EAA, highlighting the AHB biomass replacement potential for unsustainable fishmeal in salmonid diets.

Keywords: Aquafeed; Contact stabilization; Fermentation; Resource recovery; Single-cell protein.

MeSH terms

Anaerobiosis
Bacteria, Aerobic
Biomass
Bioreactors*
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
Sewage / chemistry
Waste Disposal, Fluid
Wastewater*

Substances

Waste Water
Sewage