Demonstrating performance in scaled-up production and quality control of polyhydroxyalkanoates using municipal waste activated sludge

Abstract

Significant progress has been made over the past decade with pilot scale polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production by direct accumulation using municipal waste activated sludge (WAS). However, industrial upscaling experiences are still lacking in the research literature. In this study, a demonstration scale (4 m³) PHA production process was operated using industrially relevant equipment and compared favourably to those from parallel pilot scale (200 L) production runs. WAS grab samples from a Dutch full scale municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) was used as the biomass source. Final biomass PHA contents and production yields, that are critical for technology viability, were statistically the same between the experiments conducted at pilot scale (0.41 ± 0.02 gPHA/gVSS and 0.42 ± 0.02 gCOD/gCOD) and demonstration scale (0.45 ± 0.05 gPHA/gVSS and 0.39 ± 0.07 gCOD/gCOD). The results furthermore aligned with previous 1 m³ piloting experiences and five year old historical data that similarly used WAS sourced from the same WWTP. Scalability for the technology and a robustness of the applied PHA production methods using WAS were demonstrated. Temperature and foaming control were identified to be critical to upscaled process engineering and design towards successful industrial implementations. The results of the present study, combined with previously produced PHAs and those historical data, support that feedstock quality predictably determines both the average PHA co-monomer content, as well as the blend distribution. PHA solvent extraction from WAS is inherently a blending process. Extraction homogeneously mixes polymer contributions from collectively stored granules from all species of microorganisms in the biomass. Dried PHA-rich biomass batches can be stockpiled and batches can be blended in extraction processes for both recovery and formulation to reach consistent polymer qualities across production batches. More centralized extraction facilities are therefore anticipated to offer economic benefits due to scale and greater opportunities for product quality specification and control. Research findings are presented herein of the production scale comparative study along with practical perspectives of technological readiness for realizing WAS based industrial scale PHA production, quality control, and the supply chains that will be necessary for successful commercial implementation.