Scaling-up microbial community-based polyhydroxyalkanoate production: status and challenges

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology and biochemical engineering
• Environmental science and engineering
• Polymer science

Background:

• Organic waste and wastewater present disposal challenges and represent untapped resources.
• Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biodegradable polymers with diverse applications, offering a valuable alternative to conventional plastics.
• Microbial community-based systems have shown promise for PHA production at laboratory and pilot scales.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review and analyze pilot-scale research on microbial community-based polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production.
• To categorize and assess key aspects including feedstocks, enrichment strategies, PHA yields, biomass PHA content, and polymer characteristics.
• To identify challenges hindering the further scale-up of these bioproduction systems.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature review of pilot-scale studies on microbial PHA production.
• Categorization of research based on feedstocks, microbial enrichment strategies, and operational parameters.
• Analysis of reported PHA yields, biomass PHA content, and polymer properties.

Main Results:

• Nineteen pilot-scale installations for microbial PHA production have been reported in scientific literature.
• Variability exists in feedstocks, enrichment methods, and resulting PHA yields and polymer characteristics across studies.
• Successful lab- and pilot-scale applications demonstrate the feasibility of microbial PHA production from organic waste.

Conclusions:

• Microbial community-based PHA production is a viable technology for resource recovery from organic waste.
• Further research and development are needed to overcome challenges in scaling up PHA production for industrial application.
• Optimizing feedstocks, enrichment strategies, and process control are crucial for efficient and cost-effective large-scale PHA manufacturing.