Piotr Oleskowicz-Popiel

Poznan University of Technology · Institute of Environmental Engineering

One of the common tendencies of animal production activities in Europe and in developed countries in general is to intensify the animal production and to increase the size of the animal production units. High livestock density is always accompanied by production of a surplus of animal manure, representing a considerable pollution threat for the env...

With the aim of understanding the contribution of enzymes to the cost of lignocellulosic biofuels, we constructed a techno-economic model for the production of fungal cellulases. We found that the cost of producing enzymes was much higher than that commonly assumed in the literature. For example, the cost contribution of enzymes to ethanol produced...

Mixed culture fermentation consists of stable microbial population hence waste could be potentially used as a substrates. The aim of the work was to investigate the impact of pH and retention time on the anaerobic mixed culture fermentation. Trials at different pH (4-12) in unbuffered systems were conducted for 5, 10 and 15days. The highest VFAs co...

Municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are energy-intensive and thus cost-intensive facilities; therefore, it is crucial to increase energy production directly at the WWTP. Enhancement of biogas production by addition of external substrates is one of the solutions to increase energy self-sufficiency of the WWTPs with an additional benefit of...

Volatile fatty acids (VFAs) are obtained during chemical routes from non-renewable petrochemicals. Intensive exploitation of oil resources have renewed the idea of VFAs production during biological routes, mainly throughout anaerobic mixed culture fermentation (MCF). We carried out MCF trials at initial acidic (5.0), neutral (7.0, with addition of...

Waste valorisation via biological production of widely used in the industry medium chain carboxylates (MCCs) via open culture fermentation (OCF) could be a promising alternative to the commonly used anaerobic digestion. Lactate-rich waste streams are considered as valuable substrates for carboxylate chain elongation (CE), however, there are certain...

Short- and medium-chain fatty acids (SMCFAs) derived from the acidogenic anaerobic mixed culture fermentation of acid whey obtained from a crude cheese production line and their synthetic mixture that simulates a real SMCFA-rich stream were evaluated for polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production. Three individual Pseudomonas sp. strains showed differen...

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) production by Aeromonas sp. AC_01 was investigated using synthetic and waste derived short and medium chain fatty acids (SMCFAs). The obtained results revealed that the analyzed bacterial strain was able to grow and synthesize PHAs using SMCFAs. The highest PHA productivity was observed in the cultivation supplemented w...

The aim of this study was to evaluate an effect of short and medium chain carboxylic acids (CAs) rich stream derived from acidogenic mixed culture fermentation of acid whey on polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) synthesis by Paracoccus homiensis and compare it with the impact of individual synthetic CAs. The obtained results confirmed that the analyzed ba...

The presence of micropollutants in water, wastewater and soil are a global problem due to their persistent effect on ecosystems and human health. Although there are many methods of removal of environmental pollutants, they are often ineffective for degradation of pharmaceuticals, including estrogens. In presented work we proposed fabrication of ele...

Chain elongation is an anaerobic biotechnological process that converts short chain carboxylates and an electron donor (e.g. ethanol, lactate) into more valuable medium chain carboxylates. Caproate production in lactate-based chain elongation is gaining popularity, however, the relation between lactate (electron donor) and acetate (electron accepto...

Open culture fermentation (OCF) is a promising technology for converting different organic waste into carboxylic acids (CAs) and alcohols in the context of biorefinery. This study investigated OCF to enhance the production of CAs and alcohols from three different monosaccharides: glucose, xylose, galactose and a mixture of two sugars: glucose with...

Methane is an abundant and low-cost gas with high global warming potential and its use as a feedstock can help mitigate climate change. Variety of valuable products can be produced from methane by methanotrophs in gas fermentation processes. By using methane as a sole carbon source, methanotrophic bacteria can produce bioplastics, biofuels, feed ad...

Sludge management has a significant impact on operating costs in municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The current trend is to optimize the sludge management in order to enhance the energy independence from external energy suppliers, while reducing the operating costs of the WWTP. One of the methods is through the pretreatment of waste act...

The recent trend of turning wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) into energy self-sufficient resource recovery facilities has led to a constant search for solutions that fit into that concept. One of them is chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT), which provides an opportunity to increase biogas production and to significantly reduce the amoun...

Waste of industrial origin produced from synthetic materials are a serious threat to the natural environment. The ending resources of fossil raw materials and increasingly restrictive legal standards for the management of plastic waste have led to research on the use of biopolymers, which, due to their properties, may be an ecological alternative t...

Volatile fatty acids (VFAs) derived from organic wastes are being considered as low-cost feedstock for microbial lipid production as a valuable alternative to plant derived oils/biodiesel. In this study, VFAs were produced from anaerobic open culture fermentation of wastepaper and subsequently, used as a feedstock for lipid production by Cryptococc...

The objective of the study was to valorize waste stream for the co-production of hydrogen and caproate via open culture fermentation (OCF). Batch studies confirmed that the use of sugar (lactose) together with carboxylates (lactate and acetate) may allow mutual coexistence of chain elongation and dark fermentation processes. During the continuous t...

Chain elongation is a process that produces medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs) such as caproic acid which is one of the promising products of carboxylate platform. This study analyzed the impact of bioaugmentation of heat treated anaerobic digester sludge with C. kluyveri (AS+Ck) on caproic acid production from mixed substrate (lactose, lactate, acet...

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of substrate composition on chain elongation pathways and on shaping reactor microbiome during open culture fermentation (OCF). The process was performed in a continuous mode in an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor fed with either fresh acid whey (AW) or AW at controlled stage o...

Volatile fatty acids (VFAs) can be obtained from lignocellulosic agroindustrial wastes, sludge, and various biodegradable organic wastes as key intermediates through dark fermentation processes and chemical routes. In recent days, biobased VFAs production is receiving great attention due to the increase of market demand, potential applications, and...

The objective of this study was to investigate the potential of supplementing ethanol and lactic acid as electron donors in reverse β-oxidation for short chain carboxylic acids chain elongation during anaerobic fermentation of acid whey. Best results were achieved when lactic acid was added at concentration of 300 mM. It resulted in medium chain ca...

In recent years, groundwater contamination caused by dyes has become an important problem. They enter into wastewater as a result of the textile, automotive, or cosmetics industries. For this reason, new methods are being sought, which would aid at the removal of dye impurities with high efficiency and also would be relatively cheap. In the present...

In light of an increasing demand for energy and sustainable development, bioenergy production is a must. A carboxylate platform-based bioprocess now enables the conversion of organic waste into a valuable bioproduct via open culture fermentation due to a complex microbial activity. Caproic acid is one of the promising products that can be further p...

The objectives of this study were to investigate the effect of hydraulic retention time (HRT) and organic loading rate (OLR) on the volatile fatty acids (VFAs) production from cheese whey and sludge, and to find the relation between total volatile fatty acids (TVFAs) accumulation at different HRT and OLR and the corresponding bacterial community. T...

Microorganisms are responsible for biochemical cycles and therefore play essential roles in the environment. By using omics approaches and network analysis to understand the interaction and cooperation within mixed microbial communities, it would be possible to engineer microbiomes in fermentation and digestion reactors to convert organic waste int...

The influence of different parts of corn stover on lignin extraction was investigated. Five kinds of lignin were isolated by the high boiling point solvent extraction from the whole corn stover and four different parts including leaf, husk, bark and pith. The optimal condition was obtained: 6.25 g/L NaOH, 140 °C, 1 h and 60% (v/v) 1,4-butanediol. T...

In : Innovative Wastewater Treatment & Resource Recovery Technologies: Impacts on Energy, Economy and Environment, IWA publishers, Pages: 399-421, ISBN13: 9781780407869 // eISBN: 9781780407876 This book introduces the 3R concept applied to wastewater treatment and resource recovery under a double perspective. Firstly, it deals with innovative tec...

The goal of this work was to give a comprehensive review on biogas production from microalgae biomass. Different process parameters were summarized in tables which could become comprehensive compendium of operation conditions of microalgae preparation for biogas production. Further,, the limitations of the process implementation and commercializati...

Conversion of carbohydrate into 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5- HMF), a versatile, key renewable platform compound is regarded as an important transformation in biomass-derived carbohydrate chemistry. A variety of ILs, not only acidic but also alkaline ILs, were synthesized and used as catalyst in the production of 5-HMF from disaccharide. Several fact...

Valuable substances recovery becomes an increasing practice worldwide. Biogas production in anaerobic digestion process becomes less economical than valuable volatile and medium fatty acids production for industrial applications in some cases. In this study, whey (dairy industry) wastewaters which contain high BOD and COD content were treated in an...

Agriculture is expected to contribute in substituting of fossil fuels in the future. This constitutes a paradox as agriculture depends heavily on fossil energy for providing fuel, fodder, nutrients and machinery. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether organic agriculture is capable of providing both food and surplus energy to the society a...

Ionic liquid (IL) has been widely investigated in 5-HMF production from biomass. However, most of studies employed IL as reaction solvent which requires a large amount of IL. In the present study, IL was utilized as catalyst in the conversion of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) to 5-HMF under microwave irradiation (MI) in N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMA...

W wyniku stafej eksploatacji, zasoby irodef pallw kopalnych nieuchronnie malejq. W doble zrownowaionego rozwoju naukowcy poszukujq alternatywnych rozwiqzari produkcji energii, aby nie dopu cio do cafkowitego wykorzystania danych zasobow i zapobiec globalnemu kryzysowi energetycznemu. Moiliwo ci takie daje wykorzystanie biorafinerii bazujqcych na pr...

Deconstruction of polysaccharides into fermentable sugars remains the key challenge in the production of inexpensive lignocellulosic biofuels. Typically, costly enzymatic saccharification of the pretreated biomass is used to depolymerize its cellulosic content into fermentable monomers. In this work, we examined the production of lignocellulosic re...

A review, with 40 refs., of lignocellulosics, sludge and org. wastes-based biorafinery processes.

Efficient monitoring and control of anaerobic digestion (AD) processes are necessary in order to enhance biogas plant performance. The aim of monitoring and controlling the biological processes is to stabilise and optimise the production of biogas. The principles of process analytical technology (PAT) have been identified as some of the most promis...

This chapter discusses the role of anaerobic digestion (AD) within biomass chains. It does so by firstly contextualizing the topic, highlighting the main possibilities opening up for different chains given the intrinsic advantages of AD. Next, a typology of AD cascades is set out and the possibilities of each cascade outlined following cascade chai...

The addition of a biorefinery to an organic farm was investigated, where ethanol was produced from germinated rye grains and whey, and the effluent was separated into two streams: the protein-rich solid fraction, to be used as animal feed, and the liquid fraction, which can be co-digested with clover grass silage to produce biogas. A method for eth...

Ensiling of humid biomass samples wrapped in plastic bales has been investigated as a wet-storage for bioethanol production from three lignocellulosic biomass samples i.e. maize, rye, and clover grass. During the silage process, lactic acid bacteria fermented free sugars to lactic acid, and consequently by lowing pH, inhibiting other microbes to de...

Ethanol production by K. marxianus in whey from organic cheese production was examined in batch and continuous mode. The results showed that no pasteurization or freezing of the whey was necessary and that K. marxianus was able to compete with the lactic acid bacteria added during cheese production. The results also showed that, even though some la...

We present a process model for a lignocellulosic ethanol biorefinery that is open to the biofuels academic community. Beyond providing a series of static results, the wiki-based platform provides a dynamic and transparent tool for analyzing, exploring, and communicating the impact of process advances and alternatives for biofuels production. The mo...

In order to evaluate new strategies for the production of renewable energy within sustainable organic agriculture, a process-simulation model for a 100 ha organic farm was developed. Data used for the model was obtained from laboratory trials, literature data, consultancy with experts, and results from the BioConcens project (http://www.bioconcens....

In this study, two process analytical technologies, near infrared spectroscopy and acoustic chemometrics, were investigated as means of monitoring a maize silage spiked biogas process. A reactor recirculation loop which enables sampling concomitant with on-line near infrared characterisation was applied. Near infrared models resulted in multivariat...

In this communication, pretreatment of the anaerobically digested (AD) manure and the application of the pretreated AD manure as liquid medium for the simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) were described. Furthermore, fermentation of pretreated maize silage and wheat straw was investigated using 2l bioreactors. Wet oxidation performe...

To have all-year-round available feedstock, whole-crop maize is harvested premature, when it still contains enough moisture for the anaerobic ensiling process. Silage preparation is a well-known procedure for preserving plant material. At first, this method was applied to obtain high-quality animal feed. However, it was found that such ensiled crop...

A study of NIR as a tool for process monitoring of thermophilic anaerobic digestion boosted by glycerol has been carried out, aiming at developing simple and robust Process Analytical Technology modalities for on-line surveillance in full scale biogas plants. Three 5 L laboratory fermenters equipped with on-line NIR sensor and special sampling stat...

Bioenergy production from local bioresources has a great potential. It is important to reduce dependency on fossil fuels and decrease green house gas emission in organic agriculture (OA). Both bio gas and bioethanol can be produced in OA and significantly contribute to the sustainability of organic far ms. Soil fertility is the basis for OA: it has...

Bioenergy gives Europe the best opportunity to reduce GHG emission and secure its energy supply. However, the biomass production should not create additional pressure on the environment. Therefore, for presented calculations, biomass for energy utilization originates from the cropland of the agricultural areas. Permanent grassland, areas of agro-fo...

Anaerobic digestion based on animal manure and energy crops is very effective technology to provide energy and reduce green-house gasses emission, in particular ammonia and methane. Besides, utilisation of biogas contributes to reduction of CO2 emission. On the other hand, production of bioethanol from starchy or lignocellulosic materials can suppl...