Production of volatile fatty acids from slaughterhouse blood by mixed-culture fermentation

Abstract

The volatile fatty acid (VFA) production potential from animal blood and the factors affecting this process were investigated in this study. In order to simulate an industrial process different operation modes, batch, fed batch and semi-continuous, were also evaluated. Due to high ammonia concentration in fermentation broth, VFA concentration up to 100 g L−1 was achieved without addition of buffer and methanogen inhibitor. In general, acetic, n-butyric and iso-valeric acids were the most predominant species, although different operational conditions affected the VFA concentration, profile, production rate and yield. The microbial community analysis was conducted on the reactors with the best performance, revealing that 70–90% of the microbial population was from the Clostridiales order with a strong presence from the Sporanaerobacter genus. These results demonstrated the feasibility of a VFA platform bio-refinery using high-protein wastes as substrate via mixed-culture fermentation under non-sterilised conditions.