Microbial proteins, i.e., single-cell proteins or microbial biomass, can be cultivated for food and animal feed due to their high protein content and the fact that they represent a rich source of carbohydrates, minerals, fats, vitamins, and amino acids. Another advantage of single-cell proteins is their rapid production due to the growth rate of microorganisms and the possibility of using agro-industrial waste, residues and by-products for production through this renewable technology. Agro-industrial residues and by-products represent materials obtained from various processes in agriculture and agriculture-related industries; taking into account their composition and characteristics, as well as vast amounts, they have an enormous potential to generate sustainable bioproducts, such as microbial proteins. This review aims to summarize contemporary scientific research related to the production of microbial proteins on various agro-industrial residues and by-products, as well as to emphasize the current state of production of single-cell proteins and the importance of their production to ease the food crisis and support sustainable development.

The importance and interest in the efficient use and valorization of agro-industrial residues and by-products have grown due to environmental problems associated with improper disposal. Biotechnological production processes, including microbial biosurfactant production, represent a sustainable way to utilize agro-industrial residues and by-products, which are applied as substrates in these processes. Biosurfactants produced by microorganisms using renewable resources are a viable alternative to traditional petrochemical surfactants and have several potential uses in a wide range of industrial sectors due to their minimal ecotoxicity, easy biodegradability, and moderate production conditions. The common applications of biosurfactants, besides in food industry as food additives and preservatives, are in agriculture, environmental protection, the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industry, wastewater treatment, the petroleum industry, etc. This review aims to summarize the comprehensive scientific research related to the use of various agro-industrial residues and by-products in the microbial production of biosurfactants, as well as to emphasize the present state and the importance of their sustainable production. Additionally, based on the available biosurfactant market analysis datasets and research studies, the current situation in science and industry and the future perspectives of microbial biosurfactant production have been discussed.

Wine industry generates large volumes of wastewaters resulting from numerous cleaning operations that occur during the different stages of winemaking. Disposal of these effluents in the environment causes huge problems due to their high organic and inorganic load and seasonal variability. The bioconversion of winery wastewaters in valuable product, such as xanthan, is an important alternative to overcome environmental problems. In this research, the possibility of xanthan production using Xanthomonas campestris on blended wastewaters from different stages of white and rose wine production with initial sugar content of 50 g/L was investigated. In addition to the media parameters (content of sugars, total and assimilable nitrogen, phosphorus, total dissolved salts and apparent viscosity), raw xanthan yield and degree of sugar conversion into product were determined in order to examine the success of xanthan biosynthesis. In applied experimental conditions, xanthan yield of 20.92 and 30.64 g/L and sugar conversion into product of 40.23 and 60.73% were achieved on wastewaters from white and rose wine production, respectively. The results of these experiments suggest that winery wastewaters, after additional optimization of the process in terms of the substrate composition and the cultivation conditions, may be a suitable raw material for industrial xanthan production.

Global economic development has led to the widespread use of fossil fuels, and their extensive use has resulted in increased environmental pollution. As a result, significantly more attention is being paid to environmental issues and alternative renewable energy sources. Bioethanol production from agro-industrial byproducts, residues, and wastes is one example of sustainable energy production. This research aims to develop a process and cost model of bioethanol production from spent sugar beet pulp. The model was developed using SuperPro Designer^® v.11 (Intelligen Inc., Scotch Plains, NJ, USA) software, and determines the capital and production costs for a bioethanol-producing plant processing about 17,000 tons of spent sugar beet pulp per year. In addition, the developed model predicts the process and economic indicators of the analyzed biotechnological process, determines the share of major components in bioethanol production costs, and compares different model scenarios for process co-products. Based on the obtained results, the proposed model is viable and represents a base case for further bioprocess development.

Bioethanol is a renewable, environmentally-friendly biofuel conventionally produced through the alcoholic fermentation of sugary or starch-rich substrates by microorganisms, commonly Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Intermediates of industrial wheat flour wet milling processing to starch, such as A-starch and B-starch milk, are cost-effective, abundant, and non-seasonal feedstocks for bioethanol production. This study evaluates the bioethanol production from wheat A-starch and B-starch milk and mixtures of these two substrates in different ratios (1:3, 1:1, and 3:1) using two cold hydrolysis procedures at 65 °C: (i) simultaneous liquefaction and saccharification (SLS) followed by fermentation, and (ii) liquefaction by alpha-amylase followed by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF). The results demonstrated that SSF and SLS are equally efficient procedures for reaching a high ethanol yield of 53 g per 100 g of starch and 93% of starch conversion to ethanol for all investigated substrates. Lower levels of non-starch components in A-starch milk, which typically contribute to volatile by-product formation, allowed clear distillate profiles in terms of and lower content of aldehydes, methanol, and volatile acidity, enhancing ethanol distillate purity compared to B-starch milk. Mixing high-quality A-starch milk with low-cost B-starch milk enables higher ethanol yield, improved distillate quality, and energy savings for efficient industrial-scale applications.

Xanthan gum is one of the major commercial biopolymers employed in many industrial processes owing to its unique physical properties such as a high degree of pseudoplasticity and high viscosity even at low concentrations. Commercially available xanthan gum is relatively expensive due to glucose or sucrose being used as the sole carbon source for its production and cost reduction could be achieved by using less expensive substrates, such as food industrial wastewaters. Effluents from the confectionery industry, because of its high organic content, are significant environmental pollutants and before their release into environment it is necessary to purify them. The present study examines xanthan production by Xanthomonas campestris under aerobic conditions on wastewaters from five different factories of the confectionery industry. Xanthan yield was obtained as a quantitative characteristic of the process and was in the range between 4.28 g/L and 10.03 g/L and its quality is determined by following rheological characteristics of obtained cultivation media. The results obtained in this study indicate that wastewater from confectionary industry can be used as the basis of media for the production of this highly valuable product.