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Review
. 2023 Dec 15;8(8):613.
doi: 10.3390/biomimetics8080613.

Artificial Humic Substances as Biomimetics of Natural Analogues: Production, Characteristics and Preferences Regarding Their Use

Elena Efremenko  1 , Nikolay Stepanov  1 , Olga Senko  1 , Ilya Lyagin  1 , Olga Maslova  1 , Aysel Aslanli  1
Affiliations
Review

Artificial Humic Substances as Biomimetics of Natural Analogues: Production, Characteristics and Preferences Regarding Their Use

Elena Efremenko et al. Biomimetics (Basel). .

Abstract

Various processes designed for the humification (HF) of animal husbandry wastes, primarily bird droppings, reduce their volumes, solve environmental problems, and make it possible to obtain products with artificially formed humic substances (HSs) as analogues of natural HSs, usually extracted from fossil sources (coal and peat). This review studies the main characteristics of various biological and physicochemical methods of the HF of animal wastes (composting, anaerobic digestion, pyrolysis, hydrothermal carbonation, acid or alkaline hydrolysis, and subcritical water extraction). A comparative analysis of the HF rates and HS yields in these processes, the characteristics of the resulting artificial HSs (humification index, polymerization index, degree of aromaticity, etc.) was carried out. The main factors (additives, process conditions, waste pretreatment, etc.) that can increase the efficiency of HF and affect the properties of HSs are highlighted. Based on the results of chemical composition analysis, the main trends and preferences with regard to the use of HF products as complex biomimetics are discussed.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion; biosorbents; composting; hydrothermal carbonization; pyrolysis; waste treatment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The scheme used in this review for a comparative analysis of the main HF processes of AW under different conditions and the HS resources obtained in them.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Box-plot visualization of HS yields (a), HS production rates (b), and temperatures (c) in various processes of HF AW presented in Table 1. Designations: ◯—individual data point; ∎—mean value; the box confines the interquartile range (25–75%) and is sectioned by segment at median value; the whiskers denote the value of 1.5 interquartile range. The rectangles of different colors correspond to certain HF processes indicated on the abscissa axis.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Properties of biomimetic HSs obtained via various methods and their practical potential.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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