Abstract
In this study, the suitability of paper industry wastewater for production of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) was investigated in a pilot reactor in an industrial setting. The pilot plant was designed as a three-step process comprising (1) anaerobic fermentation for maximization of the volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentration, (2) enrichment of PHA-producing biomass, and (3) accumulation for maximization of the PHA content of the biomass. After fermentation, the paper mill process water contained a VFA fraction of 78% on a chemical oxygen demand (COD) basis. The length of the feast phase in the enrichment process stabilized at after 18 days of operation. At the end of the feast phase all VFA was consumed and the PHA content of the volatile suspended solids (VSS) was . The acquired microbial community was dominated by Plasticicumulans acidivorans, a PHA-producing microorganism previously found to dominate VFA-fed laboratory reactors. The maximum PHA content achieved after accumulation was 0.70 to 0.80 g PHA/g VSS. An overall PHA yield of 34% on a COD basis was achieved. Improving the VFA fraction in the product spectrum of the fermentation and minimization of acid and base consumption for pH control were identified as major bottlenecks.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to express their gratitude toward Enne Feenstra, Bert Uil, Alexandra Neclaw, Eddy Muntendam, Henk Lambeck, and Jan Henk Timmerman from ESKA Graphic Board in Hoogezand, the Netherlands, Ezra Schraven from TU Delft, and Joost van der Bij from Hanzehogeschool Groningen for supporting our research.
References
Albuquerque, M. G. E., V. Martino, E. Pollet, L. Avérous, and M. A. M. Reis. 2011. “Mixed culture polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production from volatile fatty acid (VFA)-rich streams: Effect of substrate composition and feeding regime on PHA productivity, composition and properties.” J. Biotechnol. 151 (1): 66–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiotec.2010.10.070.
Anterrieu, S., L. Quadri, B. Geurkink, I. Dinkla, S. Bengtsson, M. Arcos-Hernandez, T. Alexandersson, F. Morgan-Sagastume, A. Karlsson, and M. Hjort. 2014. “Integration of biopolymer production with process water treatment at a sugar factory.” New Biotechnol. 31 (4): 308–323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbt.2013.11.008.
Bengtsson, S., A. Werker, M. Christensson, and T. Welander. 2008. “Production of polyhydroxyalkanoates by activated sludge treating a paper mill wastewater.” Bioresour. Technol. 99 (3): 509–516. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2007.01.020.
Beun, J. J., K. Dircks, M. C. M. Van Loosdrecht, and J. J. Heijnen. 2002. “Poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate metabolism in dynamically fed mixed microbial cultures.” Water Res. 36 (5): 1167–1180. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0043-1354(01)00317-7.
Chakravarty, P., V. Mhaisalkar, and T. Chakrabarti. 2010. “Study on poly-hydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production in pilot scale continuous mode wastewater treatment system.” Bioresour. Technol. 101 (8): 2896–2899. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2009.11.097.
Chen, G. Q. 2009. “A microbial polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) based bio- and materials industry.” Chem. Soc. Rev. 38 (8): 2434–2446. https://doi.org/10.1039/B812677C.
Clesceri, L. S., A. E. Greenberg, and A. D. Eaton. 1999. Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association.
Dionisi, D., M. Majone, G. Vallini, S. Di Gregorio, and M. Beccari. 2007. “Effect of the length of the cycle on biodegradable polymer production and microbial community selection in a sequencing batch reactor.” Biotechnol. Prog. 23 (5): 1064–1073. https://doi.org/10.1021/bp060370c.
Jiang, Y., M. Hebly, R. Kleerebezem, G. Muyzer, and M. C. M. van Loosdrecht. 2011a. “Metabolic modeling of mixed substrate uptake for polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production.” Water Res. 45 (3): 1309–1321. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2010.10.009.
Jiang, Y., L. Marang, R. Kleerebezem, G. Muyzer, and M. C. M. van Loosdrecht. 2011b. “Effect of temperature and cycle length on microbial competition in PHB-producing sequencing batch reactor.” Int. Soc. Microbial Ecol. 5 (5): 896–907. https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2010.174.
Jiang, Y., L. Marang, R. Kleerebezem, G. Muyzer, and M. C. M. van Loosdrecht. 2011c. “Polyhydroxybutyrate production from lactate using a mixed microbial culture.” Biotechnol. Bioeng. 108 (9): 2022–2035. https://doi.org/10.1002/bit.23148.
Jiang, Y., L. Marang, J. Tamis, M. C. M. van Loosdrecht, H. Dijkman, and R. Kleerebezem. 2012. “Waste to resource: Converting paper mill wastewater to bioplastic.” Water Res. 46 (17): 5517–5530. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2012.07.028.
Jiang, Y., D. Sorokin, R. Kleerebezem, G. Muyzer, and M. C. M. van Loosdrecht. 2010. “Plasticicumulans acidivorans gen. nov., sp. nov., a polyhydroxyalkanoate-accumulating gammaproteobacterium from a sequencing-batch bioreactor.” Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 61 (9): 2314–2319. https://doi.org/10.1099/ijs.0.021410-0.
Johnson, K., Y. Jiang, R. Kleerebezem, G. Muyzer, and M. C. van Loosdrecht. 2009. “Enrichment of a mixed bacterial culture with a high polyhydroxyalkanoate storage capacity.” Biomacromolecules 10 (4): 670–676. https://doi.org/10.1021/bm8013796.
Kleerebezem, R., and M. C. M. van Loosdrecht. 2007. “Mixed culture biotechnology for bioenergy production.” Curr. Opin. Biotechnol. 18 (3): 207–212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2007.05.001.
Marang, L., Y. Jiang, M. C. M. van Loosdrecht, and R. Kleerebezem. 2013. “Butyrate as preferred substrate for polyhydroxybutyrate production.” Bioresour. Technol. 142 (1): 232–239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2013.05.031.
Morgan-Sagastume, F., F. Valentino, M. Hjort, D. Cirne, L. Karabegovic, F. Gerardin, P. Johansson, A. Karlsson, P. Magnusson, and T. Alexandersson. 2014. “Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production from sludge and municipal wastewater treatment.” Water Sci. Technol. 69 (1): 177–184. https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2013.643.
Reis, M. A. M., L. S. Serafim, P. C. Lemos, A. M. Ramos, F. R. Aguiar, and M. C. M. Van Loosdrecht. 2003. “Production of polyhydroxyalkanoates by mixed microbial cultures.” Bioprocess Biosyst. Eng. 25 (6): 377–385. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-003-0322-4.
Serafim, L. S., P. C. Lemos, M. G. E. Albuquerque, and M. A. M. Reis. 2008. “Strategies for PHA production by mixed cultures and renewable waste materials.” Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 81 (4): 615–628. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-008-1757-y.
Tamis, J., B. M. Joosse, M. C. M. van Loosdrecht, and R. Kleerebezem. 2015. “High-rate volatile fatty acid (VFA) production by a granular sludge process at low pH.” Biotechnol. Bioeng. 112 (11): 2248–2255. https://doi.org/10.1002/bit.25640.
Tamis, J., K. Lužkov, Y. Jiang, M. C. van Loosdrecht, and R. Kleerebezem. 2014a. “Enrichment of Plasticicumulans acidivorans at pilot-scale for PHA production on industrial wastewater.” J. Biotechnol. 192 (Dec): 161–169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiotec.2014.10.022.
Tamis, J., L. Marang, Y. Jiang, M. C. van Loosdrecht, and R. Kleerebezem. 2014b. “Modeling PHA-producing microbial enrichment cultures—Towards a generalized model with predictive power.” New Biotechnol. 31 (4): 324–334. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbt.2013.11.007.
Tchobanoglous, G., F. L. Burton, H. D. Stensel, and I. Metcalf and Eddy. 2003. Wastewater engineering: Treatment and reuse. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 144 • Issue 10 • October 2018
Copyright
©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 26, 2018
Accepted: Apr 16, 2018
Published online: Aug 6, 2018
Published in print: Oct 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Jan 6, 2019
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.