Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production via resource recovery from industrial waste streams: A review of techniques and perspectives

• Published in: Bioresource technology Vol. 331; p. 124985
• Main Authors: De Donno Novelli, Laura, Moreno Sayavedra, Sarah, Rene, Eldon R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2021
• Subjects: Biofuels; biogas; biohydrogen; Biopolymers; Bioreactors; Biorefinery; biorefining; carbon; Industrial Waste; Industrial wastes; medical equipment; Metabolic pathway; Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA); Polyhydroxyalkanoates; Pretreatment; Resource recovery; value added; Waste Water; wastewater; Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA); Resource recovery; Metabolic pathway; Biorefinery; Pretreatment; Industrial wastes
• ISSN: 0960-8524; 1873-2976; 1873-2976
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2021.124985

[Display omitted] •Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production from industrial waste streams was reviewed.•Different enrichment and accumulation techniques for PHA recovery are discussed.•Optimal process/environmental conditions would maximize the cellular PHA content.•PHA yields from 7.6 to 76 wt% have been reported in pilot-scale studies.•Research on process optimization and downstream processing should be intensified. The problem of waste generation in the form of wastewater and solid wastes has caused an urgent, yet persisting, global issue that calls for the development of sustainable treatment and resource recovery technologies. The production of value-added polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) from industrial waste streams has attracted the attention of researchers and process industries because they could replace traditional plastics. PHAs are biopolymers with high degradability, with a variety of applications in the manufacturing sector (e.g. medical equipment, packaging). The aim of this review is to describe the techniques and industrial waste streams that are applied for PHA production. The different enrichment and accumulation techniques that employ mixed microbial communities and carbon recovery from industrial waste streams and various downstream processes were reviewed. PHA yields between 7.6 and 76 wt% were reported for pilot-scale PHA production; while, at the laboratory-scale, yields from PHA accumulation range between 8.6 and 56 wt%. The recent advances in the application of waste streams for PHA production could result in more widely spread PHA production at the industrial scale via its integration into biorefineries for co-generation of PHAs with other added-value products like biohydrogen and biogas.