title: Microbial community-based polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) production from wastewater: Techno-economic analysis and ex-ante environmental assessment.
abstract: This work investigates the potential for polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) production from wastewater, from a techno-economic and an environmental perspective, examining scale-up opportunities and bottlenecks prior to commercialisation. Conceptual process design, economic, environmental impacts and sensitivity analysis are developed for one fermentation process and three downstream processing routes, based on alkali, surfactant-hypochlorite and solvent treatments. Environmentally and cost-wise, the alkali treatment is the most favourable with production costs of 1.40€/kg PHB, global warming potential of 2.4kgCO2-eq/kg PHB and non-renewable energy use of 106MJ/kg PHB. The solvent-based process yields the highest costs and environmental burdens: 1.95€/kg PHB, 4.30kgCO2-eq/kg PHB and 156MJ/kg PHB. The production of PHB from wastewater is identified as an interesting alternative to pure culture-polyhydroxyalkanoates production from sugars. However, these results are not yet competitive with those for the petrochemical counterparts. Additional performance improvements may be possible, through process integration and optimisation.
authors: Copernicus Institute, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: C.FernandezDacosta@uu.nl.
authors: Cora
authors: C
authors: Fernández-Dacosta
authors: Copernicus Institute, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: J.A.PosadaDuque@uu.nl.
authors: John A
authors: JA
authors: Posada
authors: Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 67, 2628 BC Delft, The Netherlands. Electronic address: R.Kleerebezem@tudelft.nl.
authors: Robbert
authors: R
authors: Kleerebezem
authors: Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 67, 2628 BC Delft, The Netherlands. Electronic address: M.C.Cuellar@tudelft.nl.
authors: Maria C
authors: MC
authors: Cuellar
authors: Copernicus Institute, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: C.A.Ramirez@uu.nl.
authors: Andrea
authors: A
authors: Ramirez
mesh_terms: D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D019149:Bioreactors; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D002241:Carbohydrates / Q000737:chemistry; D003460:Crystallization; D005285:Fermentation; D057232:Global Warming; D006885:Hydroxybutyrates / Q000032:analysis; D006997:Hypochlorous Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D008752:Methylene Chloride / Q000737:chemistry; D054813:Polyhydroxyalkanoates / Q000737:chemistry*; D012997:Solvents; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000737:chemistry; D062065:Wastewater / Q000032:analysis*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D002241:Carbohydrates; D006885:Hydroxybutyrates; D006997:Hypochlorous Acid; D008752:Methylene Chloride; D054813:Polyhydroxyalkanoates; D012997:Solvents; D013501:Surface-Active Agents; D062065:Wastewater
keywords: Circular economy; Economic evaluation; Life cycle assessment; Polyhydroxyalkanoates; Waste valorisation