Determination of the potential of pickle wastewater as feedstock for biopolymer production

Abstract

Food industry wastewater (FIWW) streams with high organic content are among the most suitable and inexpensive candidates for polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biopolymer production. Due to its high organic acid content, pickle industry wastewater (PIWW), can be considered as one of the prospective alternatives to petroleum-based polymers for PHA production. In this context, this study aimed to investigate the production of PHA with enriched microbial culture using PIWW. Two laboratory scale sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) were operated under aerobic dynamic feeding conditions at a sludge retention time of 8 days, with a total cycle duration of 24 hours. SBRs were fed with peptone mixture and PIWW. In-cycle analysis and batch respirometric tests were performed to evaluate PHA storage together with biodegradation kinetics. In-cycle analysis showed that maximum PHA content was 1,820 mgCOD/L, corresponding to 44% in the biomass (ratio of chemical oxygen demand (COD) to volatile suspended solids) for PIWW. Experimental results were also confirmed with activated sludge model simulations. As for the PHA composition, hydroxybutyrate was the major fraction. Model simulations proposed a unique conversion–degradation–storage pathway for the organic acid mixture. This paper presents a novel insight for better understanding of PHA biopolymer production using high saline FIWW.

Structural variability, implementational irregularities in mathematical modelling of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) production—A state‐of‐the‐art review

“…Activated sludge model 3 has been used to map the growth of MMCs utilizing r jk represents k th (k = 1, 2, 3) variant rate expression for j th profile (i.e., biomass, substrate, or product) without inhibitory term (I i = 1), while r I × jk i includes the i th (i = a, b, c) inhibition term (I) as described in Figure 2. acetate and propionate (Guventurk et al, 2020). Conversion of lactic to acetate using Contois kinetics and its subsequent utilization for PHA production was considered.…”

“…The growth of Halomonas bluephagenesis and its mutants was modelled for PHA production from glucose and corn steep powder in an open fed‐batch condition (Ye et al, 2018). Activated sludge model 3 has been used to map the growth of MMCs utilizing acetate and propionate (Guventurk et al, 2020). Conversion of lactic to acetate using Contois kinetics and its subsequent utilization for PHA production was considered.…”

Hypersaline Wastewater Produced from Pickled Mustard Tuber (Chinese Zhacai): Current Treatment Status and Prospects

“…According to our survey results, one-ton of pickled mustard tuber approximately produces 18.5 tons of hypersaline wastewater, containing about 3% NaCl (the maximum NaCl reached 13 wt.%), 7000 mg L −1 COD, 400 mg L −1 of ammonia-nitrogen and 50 mg L −1 phosphorus [3]. Such a high concentration of contaminants, mainly referring to organic matter, ammonia nitrogen, phosphorus nutrients and high salt content, has caused environmental issues like the eutrophication of local rivers, serious soil salinization, and the death of aquatic creatures [4]. These adverse effects raised from the discharge of pickled mustard tuber wastewater (PMTW) have become more evident in recent years.…”