Sometimes we think of fermentation in terms of preserving foods or producing alcoholic beverages or acidic dairy products. But the term “fermentation” encompasses much. Fermentation waste treatment is the production of chemical changes in wastes via some enzymatic action. This is normally done to make the waste into a usable product like biofuels. Just as there are many types of fermentation, there are many fermentation experts. Generally, an expert in fermentation waste is one with degrees in microbiology and/or process engineering and experience in aerobic digestion, anaerobic digestion, and waste fermentation generally. For the solid-state fermentation (SSF) expert, we would normally see heavy expertise in the food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, fuel, and/or textile industries.
What do fermentation waste experts do? First and foremost, they understand the total inputs and outputs of a fermentation process. They understand how to exchange toxic for non-toxic inputs and how to identify inputs with the potential to be diverted into existing or new products, recycle streams, and minimized waste streams before anything is disposed of through water treatment plants, landfills, or other approved methods. A fermentation waste expert can provide insights to modify the inputs to the fermentation process to avoid or reduce ultimate waste streams remaining after the recovery of products from fermentation. Simply put, a fermentation expert combines the scientific training of a microbiologist, with the process and plant knowledge of the chemical engineer, and experience with a range of process types and microbial platforms.
Large renewable energy and biochemical consulting firms will certainly have experts in many fermentation areas, and in the more common areas like biofuels, biomaterials, biomass, biomass power, bio-based chemicals, biotechnologies, and renewable fuels and chemicals in general. Energy consultants should be willing to discuss clients’ initial questions about renewable energy sources, the types of biofuels, biofuel companies, synthetic biology, biomass renewable energy, biofuel energy, conversion technologies for things like tires and railroad ties, and about the circular economy in general. These clean energy experts would optimally be part of a larger, multidisciplinary group of green energy consultants with a wide variety of expertise in more specialized areas like biomass production, financial due diligence, organic synthesis, fuel additives, ethanol gas, biodiesel fuel including algae biofuels, solid state and industrial fermentation, green energy grants, ag biotech, agricultural waste, alcohol fuels, alternative proteins and animal-free products, sustainable foods, biocatalysis, biodiesel conversion, biogas production, biomass power, carbon intensity, co2 utilization, combined heat & power, Fischer-Tropsch technology, food waste, hydrothermal carbonization, industrial enzymes, landfill management, microbial fermentation, organic synthesis, plastic pyrolysis, plastic recycling, plastic waste, pyrolysis oil, reactor design, renewable identification number, the Renewable Fuel Standard (rfs2), solid recovered fuels, torrefaction and torrefied biomass, waste to energy, and waste-to-hydrogen. Finally, members and strategic partners of these green energy consulting firms should also have the availability to do things like engineering, technical feasibility studies, techno-economic analysis, due diligence, and feasibility studies, and provide expert witness testimony, and should have the contacts to assist with renewable energy finance, accounting, plant safety and insurance, legal, and virtually any other services related to the bioeconomy.
For over 25 years, Lee Enterprises Consulting (LEC) has been assisting clients with matters relating to biofuels, biomaterials, bio-based chemicals, biotechnologies, and feedstocks. With over 150 consultants worldwide, we have diverse expertise and geographical reach to assist in virtually any bioeconomy project. Our experts are seasoned professionals with an average of over 30 years of industry experience. A key benefit to LEC is our ability to assemble these professionals into multidisciplinary teams with a single point of contact, allowing us to fully integrate the technical, scientific, and regulatory aspects of a project, and combine them with years of hands-on experience. Please take a look at our experts and the services we provide. Call us at 1+ (501) 833-8511 or email us for further information.
See also, The Role of Chemical Recycling in Waste Management and Fermentation Process Scale Up.
