Valorization of kitchen biowaste for ethanol production via simultaneous saccharification and fermentation using co-cultures of the yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pichia stipitis

•Co-cultures of C5 and C6 yeasts were used for the valorization of kitchen waste.•The conversion efficiency of the substrate excided 95% using enzymatic blends.•In 40% solids loading of dry waste, ethanol production reached 45.4 ± 1.4 g.L−1. The biotransformation of the pre-dried and shredded organic fraction of kitchen waste to ethanol was investigated, via co-cultures of the yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pichia stipitis (Scheffersomyces stipitis). Preliminary experiments with synthetic media were performed, in order to investigate the effect of different operational parameters on the ethanol production efficiency of the co-culture. The control of the pH and the supplementation with organic nitrogen were shown to be key factors for the optimization of the process. Subsequently, the ethanol production efficiency from the waste was assessed via simultaneous saccharification and fermentation experiments. Different loadings of cellulolytic enzymes and mixtures of cellulolytic with amylolytic enzymatic blends were tested in order to enhance the substrate conversion efficiency. It was further shown that for solids loading up to 40% waste on dry mass basis, corresponding to 170 g.L−1 initial concentration of carbohydrates, no substrate inhibition occurred, and ethanol concentration up to 45 g.L−1 was achieved.