Production of polyhydroxyalkanoate during treatment of tomato cannery wastewater

Water Environ Res. 2008 Apr;80(4):367-72. doi: 10.2175/106143007x221535.

Abstract

Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production was achieved using tomato cannery waste coupled with a mixed microbial culture during wastewater treatment. The two-stage PHA production process comprised a sequencing batch reactor (SBR), operating under a periodic feast-famine regime, to accomplish simultaneously wastewater treatment and selection of PHA-accumulating microbes, followed by a batch reactor for the production of PHA-rich biomass. The SBRs were efficient at removing soluble carbon (84%), ammonia (100%), and phosphorus (76%). Meanwhile, PHA-accumulating microbes were enriched under the SBR operating conditions, and PHA content on a cell-weight basis was within the range 7 to 11% in nonfiltered wastewater and 2 to 8% in filtered wastewater. Subsequently, batch studies were implemented with varying loading rates, ranging from 0.4 to 3.2 food-to-microorganism ratios. A maximum 20% PHA content on a cell-weight basis was obtained. Based on the experimental results, a PHA biosynthesis-degradation kinetic model was developed to (1) aid in the design of a pilot- or full-scale PHA production process coupled with wastewater treatment and (2) determine optimal conditions for harvest of PHA-rich biomass.

MeSH terms

  • Bacteria / metabolism
  • Bioreactors* / microbiology
  • Industrial Waste / analysis*
  • Kinetics
  • Models, Chemical
  • Oxygen / metabolism
  • Polyhydroxyalkanoates / biosynthesis*
  • Solanum lycopersicum
  • Waste Disposal, Fluid / methods*

Substances

  • Industrial Waste
  • Polyhydroxyalkanoates
  • Oxygen