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Caproic Acid Formation by Carbon Chain Elongation During Fermentative Hydrogen Production of Cassava Wastewater

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Abstract

In this work, cassava wastewater was used to evaluate hydrogen production and the subsequent production of caproic acid via acetate carbon chain elongation, adding ethanol as electron donor. Batch reactors were operated with an initial chemical oxygen demand of 10 and 20 g O2/L (A10 and A20, respectively), under self-fermentative operation at 40 ± 1 °C. The initial pH was set to 5.5 to inhibit methanogens growth. Hydrogen production yields were 1.01 and 1.98 mol H2/mol glucose for A10 and A20, respectively. In both cases, the main metabolites were ethanol and acetic, butyric, propionic, and caproic acids during the fermentative step; when adding ethanol for the chain elongation the pH was adjusted to 7.0 using a 2-M NaOH solution. The maximum total caproic acid concentration obtained after ethanol addition was 4.2 and 7.2 g/L for A10 and A20, respectively; of which 84% and 90% resulted from the carbon chain elongation step, respectively.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Brazilian agencies, National Council for the Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq—processes 441495/2014–1 and 408420/2016–2), Foundation for the Development of Science and Technology of Pernambuco (FACEPE—process APQ 0603–3.07/14), and Coordination of Superior Level Staff Improvement (CAPES Proap); and the flour factory of Mr. Breu for the samples of cassava wastewater.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Council for the Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq—processes 441495/2014–1 and 408420/2016–2); Foundation for the Development of Science and Technology of Pernambuco (FACEPE – process APQ 0603–3.07/14); and Coordination of Superior Level Staff Improvement (CAPES Proap).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Environmental Sanitation Laboratory, Federal University of Pernambuco, Av. Acadêmico Hélio Ramos, s/n. Cidade Universitária, Recife, PE, CEP: 50740-530, Brazil

    Sávia Gavazza, Norma C. S. Amorim, Mario T. Kato & Lourdinha Florencio

  2. Federal Institute of Education, Science, and Technology of Alagoas, Satuba Campus, Rua 17 de Agosto, s/n. Centro. Satuba, Maceió, AL, CEP: 57120-000, Brazil

    Norma C. S. Amorim

  3. Federal University of Alagoas, Campus A.C. Simões. Av. Lourival Melo Mota, s/n. Tabuleiro dos Martins, Maceió, AL, CEP: 57072-900, Brazil

    Eduardo L. C. Amorim

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  1. Sávia Gavazza
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Contributions

NA: Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing—Original Draft, Visualization. EA: Funding acquisition. MK: Writing—Review & Editing. LF: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition. SG: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing—Review & Editing.

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Correspondence to Sávia Gavazza.

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Gavazza, S., Amorim, N.C.S., Kato, M.T. et al. Caproic Acid Formation by Carbon Chain Elongation During Fermentative Hydrogen Production of Cassava Wastewater. Waste Biomass Valor 12, 2365–2373 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-020-01174-3

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