Application of physicochemical and biological pretreatments to enhance volatile fatty acids production via Dark Fermentation from agri-food waste
type: CreativeWork
description: In the field known as the Green Economy, one of the most important pillars for developing a future, more sustainable production model is the incorporation of sustainable production processes as substitutes for conventional ones. In this regard, Volatile Fatty Acids (VFAs) constitute the so-called carboxylate platform, which plays a central role in biorefinery processes. The benchmark bioprocess for VFA production is Dark Fermentation (DF), a mode of anaerobic digestion in which the methanogenic phase is inhibited. This approach is framed within the biorefinery concept, where residual biomass is processed comprehensively and sustainably to obtain multiple value-added products, thereby promoting a circular economy model and reducing the environmental impact of agro-industrial waste management. The use of residual biomass as raw material contributes to lowering the production costs of these processes. However, it necessitates the application of costly pretreatments to ensure adequate solubilization of the organic matter present in the biomass. Residual biomass is a cheap carbon source with high volume availability and decentralized geographical distribution, but its use requires the optimization of applicable pretreatments. Waste and byproducts from the agro-food sector -which is immensely important both nationally and in the autonomous community of Andalusia- already represent one of the main sources of renewable residual biomass. They can be valorized through bioprocesses to obtain high value-added compounds. This Doctoral Thesis aimed to collect a significant sample of the principal types of agro-food biomass generated in the Andalusian autonomous community, also considering their diverse physicochemical characteristics. The following substrates were selected for this study: - Rice Husks (RH) - Sugar Beet Pulp (SBP) - Brewers' Spent Grain (BSG) - Orange Peel (OP) The goal is to optimize the valorization of agro-food substrates by applying different pretreatment stra…
abstract: In the field known as the Green Economy, one of the most important pillars for developing a future, more sustainable production model is the incorporation of sustainable production processes as substitutes for conventional ones. In this regard, Volatile Fatty Acids (VFAs) constitute the so-called carboxylate platform, which plays a central role in biorefinery processes. The benchmark bioprocess for VFA production is Dark Fermentation (DF), a mode of anaerobic digestion in which the methanogenic phase is inhibited. This approach is framed within the biorefinery concept, where residual biomass is processed comprehensively and sustainably to obtain multiple value-added products, thereby promoting a circular economy model and reducing the environmental impact of agro-industrial waste management. The use of residual biomass as raw material contributes to lowering the production costs of these processes. However, it necessitates the application of costly pretreatments to ensure adequate solubilization of the organic matter present in the biomass. Residual biomass is a cheap carbon source with high volume availability and decentralized geographical distribution, but its use requires the optimization of applicable pretreatments. Waste and byproducts from the agro-food sector -which is immensely important both nationally and in the autonomous community of Andalusia- already represent one of the main sources of renewable residual biomass. They can be valorized through bioprocesses to obtain high value-added compounds. This Doctoral Thesis aimed to collect a significant sample of the principal types of agro-food biomass generated in the Andalusian autonomous community, also considering their diverse physicochemical characteristics. The following substrates were selected for this study: - Rice Husks (RH) - Sugar Beet Pulp (SBP) - Brewers' Spent Grain (BSG) - Orange Peel (OP) The goal is to optimize the valorization of agro-food substrates by applying different pretreatment stra…
author: ROUABHIA, AMER
language: eng
keywords: Pretreatment, Agri-food waste, Biomasses, Biological pretreatment, Sugar beet pulp, Brewery bagasse, Rice husk, Orange peel, Solubilization yield, Microwave, Hydrothermal, Bioproduct, Reducing sugar, Total Protein, Volatile fatty acids, Lignocellulosic biomass, Brewers spent grain, hydrothermal pretreatment, hydrogen, total polyphenols, total reducing sugars, biorefinery, Ultrasound pretreatment, Dark fermentation, Enzyme hydrolysis, BSG, RH, TRS, PR, PT, H2, CO2, VFA
date published: 2026-01-29
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:29:27Z
provider: Universidad de Cadiz
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Universidad de Cadiz

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/10498/39361