Opportunities for Waste to Energy in the Milk Production Industry: Perspectives for the Circular Economy

Cheese whey is a waste produced in the dairy industry which generates problems if it is dumped directly into the sewer due to its high organic load. An alternative for cheese whey management is anaerobic digestion, a biological process that transforms organic matter into biogas and digestate, two pr...

Description complète

Enregistré dans:
Détails bibliographiques
Auteurs principaux: Miguel Casallas-Ojeda, Luz Elba Torres-Guevara, Diana M. Caicedo-Concha, María F. Gómez
Format: article
Langue:EN
Publié: MDPI AG 2021
Sujets:
Accès en ligne:https://doaj.org/article/fe2ef66a79f445e29c6c5e691364af92
Tags: Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
Description
Résumé:Cheese whey is a waste produced in the dairy industry which generates problems if it is dumped directly into the sewer due to its high organic load. An alternative for cheese whey management is anaerobic digestion, a biological process that transforms organic matter into biogas and digestate, two products with significant energy and agricultural potential. This work was aimed at contributing to the building of knowledge about the anaerobic degradation of cheese whey, developing a bibliometric analysis, and tracing trends in related research from 2010 up to the present, using PRISMA<sup>®</sup> to develop a systematic review based on Scopus<sup>®</sup> and using Excel<sup>®</sup> and bibliometric software (VosViewer<sup>®</sup> and RefViz<sup>®</sup>) for the identification of information. Our results show that the research around cheese whey is relatively recent and that the highest percentage of publications is from 2018 onwards. Twelve variables of the anaerobic cheese whey degradation process were identified and grouped into five factors: substrate, reactor configuration, digestate analysis, microbiological analysis, and inoculum. Likewise, it was identified that most of the anaerobic processes allow the implementation of the circular economy into the dairy sector. In conclusion, the application of anaerobic digestion in the dairy sector can help to close the productive cycles, produce biofuels, and reduce pollution.