ABSTRACT
The paper industry is the fourth largest primary energy consumer with an estimate of 8 exajoules per year and up to 28.8% of this energy is consumed for the black liquor and wood waste management. Methanol is an important component of the atmospheric emissions and up to 36000 tonnes of methanol were emitted from the Kraft mills of the pulp and paper industries in the United States alone in the year 2017. In order to tackle emissions of methanol-rich gaseous and liquid effluents, lab scale biosystems such as biotrickling filters, upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors and batch systems were tested to produce volatile fatty acids (VFA) under different operating conditions. Waste-derived VFA production is gaining a lot of attention due to the ease of production and scale-up using a wide range of organic substrates and a variety of mixed microbial consortia. The chapter also presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book.
