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Updated: Aug 27, 2025

Scalable Step-by-Step Approach of Sustainable Bioplastic Production from Food Waste
Published on: July 18, 2025
Potential of food waste-derived volatile fatty acids as alternative carbon source for denitrifying moving bed biofilm
Tugba Sapmaz1, Reza Manafi2, Amir Mahboubi2
1Department of Environmental Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, Maslak, 34469 Istanbul, Turkey; Swedish Centre for Resource Recovery, University of Borås, 501 90 Boras, Sweden.
Abstract:
Fossil-based materials such as methanol are frequently used in the denitrification process of advanced biological wastewater treatment as external carbon source. Volatile fatty acids (VFAs) produced by anaerobic digestion of food waste, are sustainable compounds with the potential to act as carbon sources for denitrification, reducing carbon footprint and material costs. In this study, the effectiveness of food waste-derived VFAs (AD-VFA) was investigated in the post-denitrification process in comparison with synthetic VFA and methanol as carbon sources. Acetic acid had the highest rate of disappearance among single tested VFAs with a denitrification rate of 0.44 g NOx-N removed/m2/day, indicating a preferential utilization pattern. While AD-VFA had a denitrification rate of 0.61 mg NOx-N removed/m2/day, sVFA had a rate of 0.57 mg NOx-N removed/m2/day, indicating that impurities in AD-VFA did not play substantial role in denitrification. AD-VFA proved to be promising carbon source alternative for denitrification in wastewater treatment plants.
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