Microbial community-based polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) production from wastewater: Techno-economic analysis and ex-ante environmental assessment

Fernández-Dacosta, Cora; Posada, John A.; Kleerebezem, Robbert; Cuellar, Maria C.; Ramirez, Andrea

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2015.03.025

Cited by 160 publications

(130 citation statements)

References 20 publications

(2 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

119

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…For example, a study done by Mudliar et al [50] showed that the unit production cost of biopolymers like polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) from activated sludge was $5380/t -$11,800/t PHB. Another study showed a lower price, where the unit production cost was 1.4-1.95 euros/kg PHB (or $1560-2170/t PHB) [51]. Another study on the production of bioplastic Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (P(3HB)) from sugarcane bagasse showed that the unit production cost was $3440/t P(3HB) [52], which is close to the value obtained in this study.…”

Section: Economic Resultssupporting

confidence: 84%

Techno-Economic Assessment of Whey Protein-Based Plastic Production from a Co-Polymerization Process

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Bio-based plastics, produced from natural and renewable sources, have been found to be good replacers to petroleum-based plastics. However, economic analyses have not been carried out for most of them, specifically those from whey. In this study, a techno-economic assessment of the industrial-scale production of plastics from whey protein is carried out considering two different scenarios: (1) low-cost dairy waste whey (DWP) and (2) purchased whey protein concentrate (WPC), as feedstocks, using SuperPro Designer software. Key economic indicators such as operating cost, capital investment, annual revenue, payback time, and return-on-investment (ROI), were analyzed. Sensitivity analyses of different parameters were performed to account for market fluctuations and other uncertainties, using Scenario 2 as the base case. Results showed that both scenarios have the capacity of producing over 3200 metric tons/year (t/yr) (or 5.5 t/batch) of plastic. With the unit selling price of plastic set at $7,000/t, both the scenarios showed profitable outcomes with the plant’s payback time of 3.7 and 2.4 years, and ROI of 27.1% and 42.2%, for Scenario 1 and Scenario 2, respectively. Sensitivity analyses showed that the unit plastic selling price was the most sensitive parameter, followed by the amount of feedstock WPC, and the number of batches.

show abstract

Section: Economic Resultssupporting

confidence: 84%

Techno-Economic Assessment of Whey Protein-Based Plastic Production from a Co-Polymerization Process

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Although PHA production is a well-known process, its production as a bioplastic commodity is hindered by: (i) the use of pure cultures and sterile feedstocks, which contribute to the high costs production, (ii) PHA yields from mixed cultures, and (iii) extraction and purification methods (Fernandez-Dacosta et al, 2015). However, due to the considerable interest in the emerging bioeconomy many waste streams and low-value feedstocks are suitable targets for bioplastic production, including municipal wastewater and sludge, and agro-industrial wastewaters (e.g., molasses, paper mill, oil mill, and dairy), and spent glycerol.…”

Section: Resource Recovery For a Circular Economymentioning

confidence: 99%

Resource Recovery from Wastewater by Biological Technologies: Opportunities, Challenges, and Prospects

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Limits in resource availability are driving a change in current societal production systems, changing the focus from residues treatment, such as wastewater treatment, toward resource recovery. Biotechnological processes offer an economic and versatile way to concentrate and transform resources from waste/wastewater into valuable products, which is a prerequisite for the technological development of a cradle-to-cradle bio-based economy. This review identifies emerging technologies that enable resource recovery across the wastewater treatment cycle. As such, bioenergy in the form of biohydrogen (by photo and dark fermentation processes) and biogas (during anaerobic digestion processes) have been classic targets, whereby, direct transformation of lipidic biomass into biodiesel also gained attention. This concept is similar to previous biofuel concepts, but more sustainable, as third generation biofuels and other resources can be produced from waste biomass. The production of high value biopolymers (e.g., for bioplastics manufacturing) from organic acids, hydrogen, and methane is another option for carbon recovery. The recovery of carbon and nutrients can be achieved by organic fertilizer production, or single cell protein generation (depending on the source) which may be utilized as feed, feed additives, next generation fertilizers, or even as probiotics. Additionlly, chemical oxidation-reduction and bioelectrochemical systems can recover inorganics or synthesize organic products beyond the natural microbial metabolism. Anticipating the next generation of wastewater treatment plants driven by biological recovery technologies, this review is focused on the generation and re-synthesis of energetic resources and key resources to be recycled as raw materials in a cradle-to-cradle economy concept.

show abstract

“…Reflux and Soxhlet extractions, with and without biomass pretreatments, have been described in literature for many different solvents [21][22][23][24]. Non-halogenated solvents have been the focus of many researches for their reduced toxicity, although the chlorinated ones, such as chloroform and dichloromethane, are still considered reference solvents because of their high efficiency [22,25,26]. The non-halogenated solvent dimethyl carbonate performs much better than a range of solvents such as diethyl carbonate, propylene carbonate and ethyl acetate and it achieved satisfactory yields of PHA recovery when compared to dichloromethane [27,28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimization of Green Extraction and Purification of PHA Produced by Mixed Microbial Cultures from Sludge

Reis

Michels

Fajardo

et al. 2020

Water

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sludge from municipal wastewater treatment systems can be used as a source of mixed microbial cultures for the production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA). Stored intracellularly, the PHA is accumulated by some species of bacteria as energy stockpile and can be extracted from the cells by reflux extraction. Dimethyl carbonate was tested as a solvent for the PHA extraction at different extraction times and biomass to solvent ratios, and 1-butanol was tested for purifying the obtained PHA at different purification times and PHA to solvent ratios. Overall, only a very small difference was observed in the different extraction scenarios. An average extraction amount of 30.7 ± 1.6 g of PHA per 100 g of biomass was achieved. After purification with 1-butanol, a visual difference was observed in the PHA between the tested scenarios, although the actual purity of the resulting samples did not present a significant difference. The overall purity increased from 91.2 ± 0.1% to 98.0 ± 0.1%.

show abstract

Microbial community-based polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) production from wastewater: Techno-economic analysis and ex-ante environmental assessment

Cited by 160 publications

References 20 publications

Techno-Economic Assessment of Whey Protein-Based Plastic Production from a Co-Polymerization Process

Techno-Economic Assessment of Whey Protein-Based Plastic Production from a Co-Polymerization Process

Resource Recovery from Wastewater by Biological Technologies: Opportunities, Challenges, and Prospects

Optimization of Green Extraction and Purification of PHA Produced by Mixed Microbial Cultures from Sludge

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About