Utilization of Biomass Derived from Cyanobacteria-Based Agro-Industrial Wastewater Treatment and Raisin Residue Extract for Bioethanol Production

Biofuels produced from photosynthetic microorganisms such as microalgae and cyanobacteria could potentially replace fossil fuels as they offer several advantages over fuels produced from lignocellulosic biomass. In this study, energy production potential in the form of bioethanol was examined using different biomasses derived from the growth of a cyanobacteria-based microbial consortium on a chemical medium and on agro-industrial wastewaters (i.e., dairy wastewater, winery wastewater and mixed winery-raisin effluent) supplemented with a raisin residue extract. The possibility of recovering fermentable sugars from a microbial biomass dominated by the filamentous cyanobacterium Leptolynbgya sp. was demonstrated. Of the different acid hydrolysis conditions tested, the best results were obtained with sulfuric acid 2.5 N for 120 min using dried biomass from dairy wastewater and mixed winery-raisin wastewaters. After optimizing sugar release from the microbial biomass by applying acid hydrolysis, alcoholic fermentation was performed using the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Raisin residue extract was added to the treated biomass broth in all experiments to enhance ethanol production. Results showed that up to 85.9% of the theoretical ethanol yield was achieved, indicating the potential use of cyanobacteria-based biomass in combination with a raisin residue extract as feedstock for bioethanol production.