Application of Immersed Membrane Bioreactor for Semi-Continuous Production of Polyhydroxyalkanoates from Organic Waste-Based Volatile Fatty AcidsShow others and affiliations
2023 (English)In: Membranes, E-ISSN 2077-0375, Vol. 13, no 6, article id 569
Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Volatile fatty acids (VFAs) appear to be an economical carbon feedstock for the cost-effective production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). The use of VFAs, however, could impose a drawback of substrate inhibition at high concentrations, resulting in low microbial PHA productivity in batch cultivations. In this regard, retaining high cell density using immersed membrane bioreactor (iMBR) in a (semi-) continuous process could enhance production yields. In this study, an iMBR with a flat-sheet membrane was applied for semi-continuous cultivation and recovery of Cupriavidus necator in a bench-scale bioreactor using VFAs as the sole carbon source. The cultivation was prolonged up to 128 h under an interval feed of 5 g/L VFAs at a dilution rate of 0.15 (d−1), yielding a maximum biomass and PHA production of 6.6 and 2.8 g/L, respectively. Potato liquor and apple pomace-based VFAs with a total concentration of 8.8 g/L were also successfully used in the iMBR, rendering the highest PHA content of 1.3 g/L after 128 h of cultivation. The PHAs obtained from both synthetic and real VFA effluents were affirmed to be poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) with a crystallinity degree of 23.8 and 9.6%, respectively. The application of iMBR could open an opportunity for semi-continuous production of PHA, increasing the feasibility of upscaling PHA production using waste-based VFAs.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
MDPI, 2023. Vol. 13, no 6, article id 569
Keywords [en]
biopolymer, immersed membrane reactor, polyhydroxyalkanoates, volatile fatty acids, Bioconversion, Bioreactors, Carbon, Cost effectiveness, Crystallinity, Effluents, Carbon feedstock, Continuous production, Cost-effective production, Immersed membrane, Immersed membrane bioreactors, Membrane reactor, Organic wastes, Semi-continuous, Biopolymers
National Category
Other Industrial Biotechnology
Research subject
Resource Recovery; Resource Recovery
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-30312DOI: 10.3390/membranes13060569ISI: 001014724600001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85164028978OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hb-30312DiVA, id: diva2:1787470
2023-08-142023-08-142024-04-30Bibliographically approved