Potato waste

There has been recent interest in lactic acid polymers and copolymers. These materials are environmentally attractive in that renewal and cheap source materials such as potato waste and cheese whey may be used. Such materials have been used for some time in degradable and resorbable surgical sutures but recent efforts have been directed at food packaging applications. There is... 

Pike and Thew Explosives.. .Patented in Engl in 1897 prepd by mixing nitrated potato wastes with other ingredients Ref Daniel (1902), 632... 

By 2006, the U.S. had 77 ethanol plants producing more than 3 billion gallons of ethanol per year. Canada produced an additional 60 million gallons. Corn was the feedstock in 62 of the 77 U.S. plants. Other feedstocks included seed corn, corn and barley, corn and beverage waste, brewery waste, cheese whey, corn and milo, corn and wheat starch, potato waste and various sugars. The U.S. had 11 additional plants under construction and 55 proposed. West Central Soy processes soybeans to a food grade oil. Alcohol and a catalyst are then used to produce biodiesel fuel and glycerin. 

Several workers recommended a promising strategy by boosting the bioremediation of contaminated soil with cheap biomass products such as alfalfa, sawdust, chopped potato waste, apple pomace, cow and chicken manure, straw, or molasses in compost systems [215, 415-417]. These applications have led to transformations of TNT of more than 95% [414,415, 417] and were often accompanied by detoxification effects [414,418]. 

Robertson, T. (2006). Study seeks new uses for potato waste. Minnesota Public Radio, http //news.minnesota. publicradio.org/features/2005/01/27 robertsont potatowaste/. 

Bioethanol production by yeasts is widely used for biodegradation of potato. However, yeasts cannot ferment starch directly, and a two-step enzymatic reaction to glucose is necessary. Different potato wastes such as industrial residues, low-grade potatoes, and spoiled potatoes can be used for acetone/ethanol production (Nimcevic et al., 1998). They used whole potato media... 

Separation of citric acid from fermentation broth Separation of lactic acid from fermentation broth Production of acetone, butanol, and ethanol (ABE) from potato wastes Separation of long-chain unsaturated fatty acids... 

Coleman R. Biodegradable plastics from potato waste double savings to environment. Agric Eng 1990 71(6) 20-22. 

Starch can also be modified by fermentation as used in the Rodenburg process. In this case the raw material is a potato waste slurry originating from the food industry. The slurry mainly consists of starch, the rest being proteins, fats and oils, inorganic components and cellulose. The slurry is held in storage silos for about two weeks to allow for stabilisation and partial fermentation. The most important fermentation process that occurs is the conversion of a small fraction of starch to lactic acid by mans of the lactic acid bacteria that are naturally present in the feedstock. The product is subsequently dried to a final water content of 10% and then extruded. 

EarthShell also supplies materials for manufacture of thermoformed trays for fresh produce and meat, as well as disposable plates, bowls, and cups. In these products, polyester is used as a moisture-barrier over a rigid substrate made of a low-cost natural composite supplied by EarthShell and Apack AG, Germany. The EarthShell composite consists of cellulose from paper waste, starch from potato waste, ground limestone, and water. Apack dispenses with the limestone but adds a polymeric ingredient. Both composites are foamed and formed with special equipment in a process comparable to making waffles. 

Later, the same group used potato waste from the food industry, a by-product that looks like mashed potato. Continuous operation of the reactor was also possible in this case [15]. 

Finally, the Army conducted a study to examine the effectiveness of windrow composting. This study used cow manure, sawdust, and potato waste amendments and required the construction of a concrete pad leachate collection system. Temperatures were maintained at 55°C and the compost was turned once a day. This process produced 98% reductions of explosives contamination within twenty days, and degraded HMX,... 

About ten billion pounds of potato waste are created each year from the process of making french fries. In fact, nearly half the mass of the potato is wasted. Several billion liters of whey, a carbohydrate-rich liquid left over from cheese making, are also dumped down the drain. Both of these waste products can be easily converted to glucose, which can be converted into lactic acid. Lactic acid molecules are then converted into long polymers. These polymers are used to make sheets that can be fashioned into trash bags. 

During his approximately fifty-year career in science and technology, Payen published about 200 papers in the major French scientific journals. These described research on dextrin, sugar, bitumen, lignin, cellulose, starch, the enzyme diastase, charcoal, potato, waste utilization, analytical methods, plant and animal nutrition, rubber, gutta percha, manure, water supply, and phylloxera. 

Molasses, whey, sulphite liquors and potato wastes all have been utilized successfully over the past few years. However, the alternate uses for molasses for direct animal feeding, citric acid or alcohol production have made it available only at a price. In many cases this price has been too high to justify economic exploitation. 

Equimolar concentrations of ethanol and acetic acid were obtained when F. oxysporum 841 was tested for its ability of direct conversion in shaken flasks [66]. This strain had the potential for the production of acetic add from cellulosic materials. Acetic add yield of 2.5 gl from Avicel and 4.7 gl from potato waste (a major byproduct from starch industries) was obtained in a single step process indicating the potential of this strain for converting cellulosic substrates into acetic acid. 

In the Netherlands, Rodenburg built up a plant for the transformation of potato wastes generated by the fried potatoes industry. The waste is fermented and the resulting granulate is used for the injection moulding of slow release devices. The claimed capacity is of 40000 tons/year. Rodenburg material is sold under the Solanyl trademark. 

In recent years companies such as Earthshell, Apack, Avebe dedicated significant efforts to the development of food containers through the baking technology . Market tests are in place in USA and Europe to check their performances. [162]. Moreover very recently in the Netherlands Rodemburg built up a plant for the transformation of potato wastes... 

Enzymatically hydrolyzed potato processing waste has been studied as a possible source of a fermentable substrate for the production of PHB by R. eutropha. The results indicated that potato starch waste could be converted with high yield to a concentrated glucose solution. The most economical process used barley malt as a source of amylase enzyme with an optimal ratio of 10 90 g g of potato waste. A conversion efficiency of 96% of the theoretical value was obtained with a final glucose concentration of 208 g L After dilution and addition of mineral salts the hydrolysate was converted by a batch culture to 5.0 g L of PHB, comprising 77% of the cell dry weight [241]. 

Figure 9.4 presents the biosurfactant yield and concentration produced with various waste carbon sources using different Bacillus species. In general, these studies show lower yields and surfactant concentrations than those presented in Figure 9.3. In the case of these Bacillus species, they tend to produce lipo-peptide surfactants, but in some cases they can also produce glycolipids [25]. Similar to the observations in Figure 9.3, sources rich in soluble carbohydrates, such as whey, cassava wastewater, simulated potato waste and molasses, produce poor yields (less than 10% in Figure 9.4) towards the production...

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