Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-018-0795-5 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Utilization of distillation waste of sweet potato Shochu lees for Lentinula edodes cultivation Nadia Farhana Azman 1  · Masahito Yamauchi 2  · Masayoshi Yamada 2  · Shoji Ikeda 3  · Takashi Yamaguchi 3  · Fumio Yagi 4  · Hirofumi Hara 5 Received: 31 May 2018 / Accepted: 25 September 2018 © Springer Japan KK, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract An alternative cultivation medium made from Shochu distillation lees (SDL) was prepared and used to produce Shiitake mushrooms (Lentinula edodes). Average weight and average count of mushrooms harvested from the medium prepared were 1.4 times greater than the corresponding average weight and count of mushrooms harvested from the standard medium and other reported conventional substrates. Average weight of harvested mushrooms was the highest when 20% of Shochu distillation lees were added to the substrate medium. In addition, supplementation of the medium with SDL provides grow- ing mushrooms with 1.5 times higher Umami components than the standard medium. By shortening the cultivation period, larger mushrooms can be produced using the substrate medium prepared in this study. The optimal cultivation period for Shiitake mushrooms with 20% SDL added to the growth medium ranged from 75 to 86 days, which is shorter than the regular cultivation period of 95 days needed when the standard medium is used. Keywords Lentinula edodes · Shochu distillation lees · Mushroom cultivation Introduction Lees are the wastes generated during the fermentation and aging processes of diferent industrial activities involving the production of alcohol. They are composed of a solid and a liquid fraction, the make-up of which depends on the region of origin and the agronomic and edaphoclimatic character- istics [1]. In Japan alone, production of Shochu was approxi- mately 700,000 tons in 2015 [2], while the amount of Sho- chu distillation lees were reported to be twice the volume of Shochu produced [3]. Shochu distillation lees (SDL) are high in nutritional value, owing to their high content of amino acids, minerals, dietary fber, vitamin components, and many bioactive substances and benefcial components for human health [4]. Because of its high nutritional value, many ongo- ing studies are focused on reusing Shochu as animal feed, methane fermentation, culture medium for algae cultivation, and fertilizer [5]. Contrarily, SDL are often disposed of by dumping into the ocean, which causes serious environmental pollution of marine environments. SDL are high in organic matter content, with approximately 60,000–900,000 mg/L in chemical oxygen demand (COD). Disposal by dumping in the ocean or by reutilizing as manure has been strictly Nadia Farhana Azman and Masahito Yamauchi have contributed equally to this work. * Hirofumi Hara hhara@utm.my 1 Department of Environmental Engineering and Green Technology, Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM KL), 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2 Department of Urban Environmental Design and Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Kagoshima College, Kirishima, Kagoshima 899-5193, Japan 3 Department of Science of Technology Innovation, Nagaoka University of Technology, Nagaoka, Niigata 940-2188, Japan 4 Department of Biochemical Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima 890-4301, Japan 5 Department of Chemical Process Engineering, Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM KL), Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia