Biogas potential of wastes and by-products of the alcoholic beverage production industries in the Spanish region of cantabria

The industry of alcoholic beverage production has been, historically, both an important economic engine and a source of wastes and pollution (due to the production processes by themselves and to the energy requirements) in a number of countries. In the small region of Cantabria, in northern Spain, the production of alcoholic beverages as an economic sector has been growing in importance in recent years. Thus, there is a new flow of waste for which specific management plans have yet to be developed. The result is an increase in the total amount of urban waste to be disposed. Anaerobic digestion can be a suitable in-situ solution for the treatment of the generated wastes providing a source of renewable energy which can be a supply for the processes in these industries, reducing the emission of greenhouse gases associated to the use of fossil fuels, all of this benefitting both environment and economy. In this work the authors present the information gathered about waste generation and the biomethanogenic potential of the most important wastes generated in the industries. As a result, specific strategies could be designed for the industrial sector in the region, of which other small agro-industries can benefi

Energetic Valorization of Solid Wastes from the Alcoholic Beverage Production Industry: Distilled Gin Spent Botanicals and Brewers? Spent Grains

ABSTRACT: In this paper, the authors assess the possibilities of energetic valorization for two solid wastes from alcoholic beverage production. Distilled gin spent botanicals (DGSB) and brewers' spent grains (BSG) are tested, both by themselves and as co-substrates, for their possibilities as substrates for anaerobic digestion in a system of box-type digesters, suited for the process. While BSGs show a good performance for anaerobic digestion, DGSBs, despite showing an acceptable biomethanogenic potential result as not suitable for the process. Experiments using DGSBs as substrate in the reactors result in failure. And, as a co-substrate, the biomethanogenic digestion process appears to be hampered and lagged. Possible explanations for this behavior are explored, as well as other possibilities for the use of the material as a power source given its high heating valu

Dry batch anaerobic digestion of food waste in a box-type reactor system: Inoculum preparation and reactor performance

A box-type reactor system with liquid inoculum has been studied for the dry anaerobic digestion of foodwaste. The food waste was processed without any pre-treatment to remove physical impurities, neitherwater addition to dilute and slurry the feedstock. The experiment was carried out with inoculum tosubstrate ratios of 1:1 (w/w) and 0.08:1 (VS basis). Previous acclimation of liquid inoculum enhanced theprocess, assuring a fast start up of the box digester and preventing from process failure by volatile fattyacids accumulation. The percolate recirculation strategy was shown to have a relevant effect on theprogress of the process. The results suggest that the process can be optimized by providing low percolaterecirculation rate during the start-up of the box digester followed by an increase in the percolaterecirculation rate when volatile fatty acids decrease and methane content in the biogas increases. Themethane yield obtained in the box digester from the food waste was in the range 460e477 L CH4kg 1VS,being the VS removal efficiency between 91.1 and 91.4%. Globally, the process operated at an organicloading rate of 2.5 kg VS m 3d 1and yielded a volumetric methane production rate of 1.0 m3CH4m3d 1. These results show the high potential of food waste for its conversion in renewable energy by usingthe dry batch anaerobic technology

Evaluation of different types of anaerobic seed sludge for the high rate anaerobic digestion of pig slurry in UASB reactors

Three different types of anaerobic sludge (granular, thickened digestate and anaerobic sewage) were evaluated as seed inoculum sources for the high rate anaerobic digestion of pig slurry in UASB reactors. Granular sludge performance was optimal, allowing a high efficiency process yielding a volumetric methane production rate of 4.1 L CH4 L-1 d-1 at 1.5 days HRT (0.248 L CH4 g-1 COD) at an organic loading rate of 16.4 g COD L-1 d-1. The thickened digestate sludge experimented flotation problems, thus resulting inappropriate for the UASB process. The anaerobic sewage sludge reactor experimented biomass wash-out, but allowed high process efficiency operation at 3 days HRT, yielding a volumetric methane production rate of 1.7 L CH4 L-1 d-1(0.236 L CH4 g-1 COD) at an organic loading rate of 7.2 g COD L-1 d-1. To guarantee the success of the UASB process, the settleable solids of the slurry must be previously removed

Biogas production from the liquid waste of distilled gin production: Optimization of UASB reactor performance with increasing organic loading rate for co-digestion with swine wastewater

This study is the first test that proves high rate anaerobic digestion as an efficient technological process for the treatment of gin spent wash. The gin spent wash was co-digested in UASB reactors with swine wastewater, which provided nutrients and alkalinity. The process was optimized by increasing the proportion of gin spent wash in the feed, and thus the organic loading rate (OLR) up to reactor failure. Stable high- efficiency operation was reached at an OLR as high as 28.5 kg COD m−3 d−1, yielding 8.4m3 CH4 m−3 d−1 and attaining a COD removal of 97.0%. At an organic loading rate of 32.0 kg COD m−3 d−1, the process became unstable and the reactor underwent over-acidification that drastically lowered the pH and suppressed methanogenesis. The failure of the reactor was caused by a combination of an organic overloading and alkalinity deficit that uncoupled acidogenesis and methanogenesis

Pro‑vegetarian food patterns and cardiometabolic risk in the PREDIMED‑Plus study: a cross‑sectional baseline analysis

Purpose We explored the cross-sectional association between the adherence to three diferent provegetarian (PVG) food patterns defned as general (gPVG), healthful (hPVG) and unhealthful (uPVG), and the cardiometabolic risk in adults with metabolic syndrome (MetS) of the PREDIMED-Plus randomized intervention study. Methods We performed a cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from 6439 participants of the PREDIMED-Plus rand omized intervention study. The gPVG food pattern was built by positively scoring plant foods (vegetables/fruits/legumes/ grains/potatoes/nuts/olive oil) and negatively scoring, animal foods (meat and meat products/animal fats/eggs/fsh and seafood/dairy products). The hPVG and uPVG were generated from the gPVG by adding four new food groups (tea and cof fee/fruit juices/sugar-sweetened beverages/sweets and desserts), splitting grains and potatoes and scoring them diferently. Multivariable-adjusted robust linear regression using MM-type estimator was used to assess the association between PVG food patterns and the standardized Metabolic Syndrome score (MetS z-score), a composed index that has been previously used to ascertain the cardiometabolic risk, adjusting for potential confounders. Results A higher adherence to the gPVG and hPVG was associated with lower cardiometabolic risk in multivariable models. The regression coefcients for 5th vs. 1st quintile were − 0.16 (95% CI: − 0.33 to 0.01) for gPVG (p trend: 0.015), and − 0.23 (95% CI: − 0.41 to − 0.05) for hPVG (p trend: 0.016). In contrast, a higher adherence to the uPVG was associated with higher cardiometabolic risk, 0.21 (95% CI: 0.04 to 0.38) (p trend: 0.019). Conclusion Higher adherence to gPVG and hPVG food patterns was generally associated with lower cardiovascular risk, whereas higher adherence to uPVG was associated to higher cardiovascular risk

Coffee Consumption and All-Cause, Cardiovascular, and Cancer Mortality in an Adult Mediterranean Population

We assessed the association between usual coffee consumption and all-cause, cardiovascular (CV), and cancer mortality in an adult population in Spain, taking into account both the amount and type of coffee consumed. We used baseline data on coffee consumption and other personal variables, and the number of deaths during an 18-year follow-up period, for 1567 participants aged 20 years and older from the Valencia Nutrition Study in Spain. Total, caffeinated, and decaffeinated coffee consumption was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Cox regression models were used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). During the 18-year follow-up period, 317 died; 115 due to CV disease and 82 due to cancer. Compared with no-consumption, the consumption of 1 cup per day and >1 cup per day of coffee was associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality, HR = 0.73 (95% CI: 0.56–0.97) and HR 0.56 (95% CI: 0.41–0.77), respectively. A lower cancer mortality was observed among drinkers of more than 1 cup per day compared with nondrinkers, HR 0.41 (95% CI 0.20–0.86). Regarding the type of coffee, only the overall consumption of caffeinated coffee was associated with lower all-cause mortality at 12 and 18 years of follow-up, HR = 0.66 (95% CI:0.46–0.94) and HR = 0.59 (95% CI: 0.44–0.79), respectively. In conclusion, this study suggests that the moderate consumption of coffee, particularly caffeinated coffee (range 1–6.5 cups per day), is associated with a lower all-cause and cancer mortality after a long follow-up period. No significant association was found between coffee consumption and CVD mortality

Adherence to Pro-Vegetarian Food Patterns and Risk of Oesophagus, Stomach, and Pancreas Cancers: A Multi Case–Control Study (The PANESOES Study)

We aimed to evaluate the association between three previously defined pro-vegetarian (PVG) food patterns and the cancers of the oesophagus, stomach, and pancreas in a multi case-control study. We analyzed data from a multi-case hospital-based study carried out in two Mediterranean provinces in Spain. A total of 1233 participants were included in the analyses: 778 incident cancer cases, histologically confirmed (199 oesophagus, 414 stomach, and 165 pancreas) and 455 controls. A dietary assessment was performed using a validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Three PVG food patterns (general, healthful, and unhealthful) were estimated using 12 food groups for the general PVG (gPVG), scoring positive plant-based foods and negative animal-based foods, and 18 food groups, for the healthful (hPVG) and unhealthful (uPVG) food patterns. Multinomial logistic regression was used to estimate relative risk ratios (RRR) and confidence intervals (95% CI) for quintiles of adherence to PVG patterns and as a continuous variable. The RRR (95% CI) for the highest vs. the lowest quintile of gPVG were, RRR = 0.37 (0.32, 0.42) for the oesophagus, RRR = 0.34 (0.27, 0.43) for the stomach, and RRR = 0.43 (0.35, 0.52) for pancreas cancer. For the hPVG, the RRR were RRR = 0.72 (0.58, 0.90) for the oesophagus, RRR = 0.42 (0.34, 0.52) for the stomach, and RRR = 0.74 (0.59, 0.92) for pancreas cancer. The uPVG was associated with a higher risk of stomach cancer RRR = 1.76 (1.42, 2.18). Higher adherence to gPVG and hPVG food patterns is associated with a lower risk of oesophageal, stomach, and pancreas cancers, while a higher adherence to a uPVG food pattern is associated with a higher risk of stomach cancer.Funding: This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Health (FIS 91/0435, RCESP C03/09), the Generalitat Valenciana (EVES 030/2005, CTGCA/2002/06, G03/136), CIBERESP

Pro-vegetarian food patterns and cardiometabolic risk in the PREDIMED-Plus study: a cross-sectional baseline analysis

Purpose We explored the cross-sectional association between the adherence to three different provegetarian (PVG) food patterns defined as general (gPVG), healthful (hPVG) and unhealthful (uPVG), and the cardiometabolic risk in adults with metabolic syndrome (MetS) of the PREDIMED-Plus randomized intervention study. Methods We performed a cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from 6439 participants of the PREDIMED-Plus randomized intervention study. The gPVG food pattern was built by positively scoring plant foods (vegetables/fruits/legumes/grains/potatoes/nuts/olive oil) and negatively scoring, animal foods (meat and meat products/animal fats/eggs/fish and seafood/dairy products). The hPVG and uPVG were generated from the gPVG by adding four new food groups (tea and coffee/fruit juices/sugar-sweetened beverages/sweets and desserts), splitting grains and potatoes and scoring them differently. Multivariable-adjusted robust linear regression using MM-type estimator was used to assess the association between PVG food patterns and the standardized Metabolic Syndrome score (MetS z-score), a composed index that has been previously used to ascertain the cardiometabolic risk, adjusting for potential confounders. Results A higher adherence to the gPVG and hPVG was associated with lower cardiometabolic risk in multivariable models. The regression coefficients for 5th vs. 1st quintile were − 0.16 (95% CI: − 0.33 to 0.01) for gPVG (p trend: 0.015), and − 0.23 (95% CI: − 0.41 to − 0.05) for hPVG (p trend: 0.016). In contrast, a higher adherence to the uPVG was associated with higher cardiometabolic risk, 0.21 (95% CI: 0.04 to 0.38) (p trend: 0.019). Conclusion Higher adherence to gPVG and hPVG food patterns was generally associated with lower cardiovascular risk, whereas higher adherence to uPVG was associated to higher cardiovascular risk