engleski

Design and construction of a horizontal bioreactor for lignocellulosic waste treatment

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in degradation of lignocellulosic waste due to ecological problems caused by the large amount of such waste produced and its possible utilization as substrate for production of biofuels (renewable energy resources) and other bioproducts. In Slavonia region (Eastern Croatia), the most common raw materials used in food industry are soybean, rapeseed, corn, wheat and sugar beet. After their harvest, the remaining stems together with sugar beet leaves form “green waste” that contains high levels of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Every year, more than 1.25 million tons of such waste is produced in Slavonia region. This “green waste” is mainly burned and it is not used further as a substrate for other industrial activities such as bioethanol/bioproducts production, so its potential remains untapped. A major challenge to full realization of the potential of lignocellulosic waste is to overcome its high degradation resistance (mostly due to the presence of lignin and hemicellulose that form a matrix surrounding cellulose – a glucose polymer) to become fermentable sugars. Since a number of microorganisms, mostly filamentous fungi, are able to degrade lignocellulosic components to various extents, biodegradation of these components could be a good strategy to overcome the above mentioned obstacle.

horizontal bioreactor ; design ; lignocellulosic waste treatment

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