Scaled-up bioconversion of fish waste to liquid fertilizer using a 5 L ribbon-type reactor

A scaled-up conversion process of fish waste to liquid fertilizer was performed in a 5 L ribbon-type reactor. Biodegradation was performed by inoculation of autoclaved fish waste with 5.84 × 10(5) CFU mL(-1) of mixed microorganisms for 96 h. As a result, the pH changed from 6.92 to 5.72, the cell number reached 7.28 × 10(5) CFU mL(-1), and approximately 430 g (28.3%) of fish waste was degraded. Analyses indicated that the 96 h culture of inoculated fish waste possessed comparable fertilizing ability to commercial fertilizers in hydroponic culture with amino acid contents of 6.91 g 100 g(-1). Therefore, the scaled-up production achieved a more satisfactory fish waste degradation rate (3.61 g h(-1)) than the flask-scale production (0.24 g h(-1)). The biodegraded broth of fish waste at room temperature did not undergo putrefaction for 6 months due to the addition of 1% lactate.