Evaluation of lipid potential production, as added value product from vinasse and preliminary evaluation of the technical and economic feasibility of the process

• Grant number: 14/07848-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: March 01, 2015
• End date: December 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Sanitary Engineering - Environmental Sanitation
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Rubens Maciel Filho
• Grantee: Bruna Soares Fernandes
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia Química (FEQ). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 16/10562-4 - Evaluation of lipid production in silico, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), by pythium irregular as value added product, from vinasse, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the production of lipids, such as value-added product from vinasse. Since it is estimated that 413 existing sugarcane and ethanol mills in Brazil is producing at least 276 billion liters of vinasse per year, considering that for each liter of ethanol produced is generated from 10 to 14 liters of vinasse , and from 2010 to 2011 27 billion liters of ethanol were produced. From 2000 to 2010 the annual growth rate of ethanol production in Brazil was 41.43 %. Furthermore, MAPA projects growth in domestic consumption for 2019 of 58.8 billion liters of ethanol, more than double amount recorded in 2008, it represents annually production of more than 588 billion liters of vinasse, which is equivalent to the sewage generated by 8.85 billion people (adopting per capita generation of 180 liters per day and COD of 300mg / L for sewage and COD of 30,000 mg / L for vinasse), corresponding to the sewage produced by all population from the Earth (in volume and in organic load (COD). According to these projections it becomes priority the development of programs for sustainable use of vinasse. Currently, vinasse is used as fertilizer in the sugarcane crop, due to the high concentration of minerals and water but there are studies that indicate that over the years this fertilization is harmful, generating Greenhouse Gases (GGE) emission during vinasse distribution in the crop, causing contamination in the soil and in the groundwater and soil salinization. One way to minimize the potential impacts of the distribution of in nature vinasse in the sugarcane crop, enabling a better use of this waste, it would be by vinasse fermentation followed by anaerobic digester in order to obtain biomaterials with high added value, such as lipids and methane, respectively. This practice makes able to increase the sustainability and profitability of the distilleries, through commercialization of lipids for use in biofuels, food industry, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries , ie products with high added value, and biofuel (CH4), and provide reduction of organic matter from stillage by the biological process, thus minimizing the impact of vinasse into the soil, atmosphere and groundwater. In this sense, the stillage would be converted from low value -added fertilizer into high added value product, making highly profitable the distillery. In this context, this project aims to evaluate the production of lipids from vinasse and map the technical and economic feasibility of this process. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

FERNANDES, BRUNA SOARES; FERNANDES VIEIRA, JOAO PAULO; CONTESINI, FABIANO JARES; MANTELATTO, PAULO EDUARDO; ZAIAT, MARCELO; DA CRUZ PRADELLA, JOSE GERALDO. High value added lipids produced by microorganisms: a potential use of sugarcane vinasse. CRITICAL REVIEWS IN BIOTECHNOLOGY, v. 37, n. 8, p. 1048-1061, 2017. (14/07848-8)

FERNANDES, BRUNA SOARES; FERNANDES MESSIAS, MARCIA CRISTINA; CARVALHO, PATRICIA DE OLIVEIRA; ZAIAT, MARCELO; DA CRUZ PRADELLA, JOSE GERALDO. Data of added-value lipid production, Arachidonic acid, among other lipids by Mortierella elongata, using low cost simulated wastewater. DATA IN BRIEF, v. 14, p. 255-259, OCT 2017. (14/07848-8)