Ethanol, feed components and fungal biomass production from field bean (Vicia faba var. equina) seeds in an integrated process

The use of field beans, a non-food leguminous crop, was studied for ethanol, feed components and fungal biomass production. The seeds were hydrolyzed using enzymes or with combination of acid (H3PO4) and alkaline (Ca(OH)2) pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis. Fermentation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae, with or without removal of suspended solids, yielded 38.3-42.5 g L−1 ethanol (71.3-79.2% efficiency). The filtration residues contained ca. 247-326 g kg−1 crude protein, 10.6-15.5% acid detergent fiber and 19.9-29.1% neutral detergent fiber. They were enriched in phenolics (by up to 93.4%) and depleted in condensed tannin (by up to 59.3%) in comparison to the raw material. The thin stillages were used for cultivation of edible fungus Neurospora intermedia which produced 8.5-15.9 g L−1 ethanol and 4.8-16.2 g L−1 biomass containing over 62% protein. The mass balances showed that fermentation of unfiltered mashes was more efficient yielding up to 195.9 g kg−1 ethanol and 84.4% of protein recovery.