Waste Bread Valorization Using Edible Filamentous Fungi

The present study is the first of its kind to use industrial waste bread for ethanol and food-grade filamentous fungal biomass production, with an ‘integrated-biorefinery’ approach for the existing wheat-based ethanol facilities. Four different food-grade fungi such as Neurospora intermedia, Aspergillus oryzae, belonging to ascomycetes and Mucor indicus, Rhizopus oryzae, belonging to zygomycetes, were screened. Initial screening for fungal cultures (without external enzyme saccharification) showed an ethanol yield maximum of 47.8 ±1.1 to 67.3 ±2.1, and 38.7 ±1.1 to 67.7±1.8 mg per g dry substrate loading from whole-grain bread and white-bread respectively, post the enzymatic liquefaction. Scale-up of the N. intermedia fermentation achieved using bench scale airlift reactor showed an ethanol yield maximum of 91.6 ±2.1 and 87.5 ±1.9 mg per g dry substrate loading for whole-grain bread and white-bread respectively