Publicação
Lowering polyhydroxyalkanoate bioproduction costs in mixed cultures through integrated optimization of organic loading rate, sludge retention time and biomass withdrawal
| Resumo: | Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are a sustainable alternative to conventional plastics, where mixed microbial cultures can be advantageous for PHA production from industrial waste streams, but lower costs are necessary to facilitate industrial application. This study assesses a novel optimisation strategy for the biomass withdrawal, organic loading rate and solids retention time, with the purpose of lowering bioproduction costs. Conventional and feast-phase biomass withdrawal strategies were compared to determine the most cost-effective operational option. Results demonstrated that increasing the organic loading rate led to an improvement of PHA productivity in each selection reactor, due to increased growth. It was observed that at low solids retention time, the incorporation of an accumulation stage did not improve the productivity of the polyhydroxyalkanoate production process using the feast-phase biomass withdrawal strategy, reducing capital costs. Economic assessment of the two different operational modes was performed, where the results demonstrated that the feast-phase biomass withdrawal strategy at an SRT of 0.8 d was the configuration resulting in the lowest total annual costs and lowest break-even PHA price (1.88 €/kg PHA-crude), due to elimination of the accumulation stage. Overall, this work contributes towards sustainable and cost-effective polyhydroxyalkanoate production from wastes in mixed cultures. |
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| Autores principais: | Cruz, Rafaela A. P. |
| Outros Autores: | Oehmen, Adrian; Reis, Maria A. M. |
| Assunto: | Biomass Withdrawal (BW) Bioplastics Cost assessment Mixed microbial cultures (MMC) PHA productivity Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) General Chemical Engineering |
| Ano: | 2026 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | artigo |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso aberto |
| Instituição associada: | Universidade Nova de Lisboa |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | Repositório Institucional da UNL |
| Resumo: | Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are a sustainable alternative to conventional plastics, where mixed microbial cultures can be advantageous for PHA production from industrial waste streams, but lower costs are necessary to facilitate industrial application. This study assesses a novel optimisation strategy for the biomass withdrawal, organic loading rate and solids retention time, with the purpose of lowering bioproduction costs. Conventional and feast-phase biomass withdrawal strategies were compared to determine the most cost-effective operational option. Results demonstrated that increasing the organic loading rate led to an improvement of PHA productivity in each selection reactor, due to increased growth. It was observed that at low solids retention time, the incorporation of an accumulation stage did not improve the productivity of the polyhydroxyalkanoate production process using the feast-phase biomass withdrawal strategy, reducing capital costs. Economic assessment of the two different operational modes was performed, where the results demonstrated that the feast-phase biomass withdrawal strategy at an SRT of 0.8 d was the configuration resulting in the lowest total annual costs and lowest break-even PHA price (1.88 €/kg PHA-crude), due to elimination of the accumulation stage. Overall, this work contributes towards sustainable and cost-effective polyhydroxyalkanoate production from wastes in mixed cultures. |
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