title: Potential for polyhydroxyalkanoate production on German or European municipal waste water treatment plants.
abstract: Biopolymers, which are made of renewable raw materials and/or biodegradable residual materials present a possible alternative to common plastic. A potential analysis, based on experimental results in laboratory scale and detailed data from German waste water treatment plants, showed that the theoretically possible production of biopolymers in Germany amounts to more than 20% of the 2015 worldwide biopolymer production. In addition a profound estimation regarding all European Union member states showed that theoretically about 115% of the actual worldwide biopolymer production could be produced on European waste water treatment plants. With an upgraded biopolymer production and a theoretically reachable biopolymer proportion of around 60% of the cell dry weight a total of 1,794,656tPHAa or approximately 236% of today's biopolymer production could be produced on waste water treatment plants in the European Union, using primary sludge as raw material only.
authors.affiliation: TBF + Partner AG, Planer und Ingenieure, Herrenberger Strasse 14, D-71032 Boeblingen, Germany. Electronic address: pit@tbf.ch.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pittmann
authors.affiliation: Technische Universitaet Kaiserslautern, Ressourcenorientierte Abwasserbehandlung, Paul-Ehrlich-Str. 14, D-67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany. Electronic address: heidrun.steinmetz@bauing.uni-kl.de.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Steinmetz
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D063566:Biodegradable Plastics / Q000378:metabolism; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D019149:Bioreactors; D005232:Fatty Acids, Volatile / Q000737:chemistry; D005858:Germany; D054813:Polyhydroxyalkanoates / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D012722:Sewage / Q000737:chemistry / Q000382:microbiology; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry / Q000382:microbiology; D018508:Water Purification
chemical_list: D063566:Biodegradable Plastics; D005232:Fatty Acids, Volatile; D054813:Polyhydroxyalkanoates; D012722:Sewage; D062065:Wastewater
keywords: Biopolymer; European Union; Polyhydroxyalkanoates; Potential analysis; Waste water treatment plants