Waste-derived volatile fatty acids as carbon source for added-value fermentation approaches

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Abstract
The establishment of a sustainable circular bioeconomy requires the effective material recycling from biomass and biowaste beyond composting/fertilizer or anaerobic digestion/bioenergy. Recently, volatile fatty acids attracted much attention due to their potential application as carbon source for the microbial production of high added-value products. Their low-cost production from different types of wastes through dark fermentation is a key aspect, which will potentially lead to the sustainable production of fuels, materials or chemicals, while diminishing the waste volume. This article reviews the utilization of a volatile fatty acid platform for the microbial production of polyhydroxyalkanoates, single cell oil and omega-3 fatty acids, giving emphasis on the fermentation challenges for the efficient implementation of the bioprocess and how they were addressed. These challenges were addressed through a research project funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 programme entitled ‘VOLATILE—Biowaste derived volatile fatty acid platform for biopolymers, bioactive compounds and chemical building blocks’.
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Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of FEMS.
Citation
Chalima , A , de Castro , L F , Burgstaller , L , Sampaio , P , Carolas , A L , Gildemyn , S , Velghe , F , Ferreira , B S , Pais , C , Neureiter , M , Dietrich , T , Topakas , E & De Castro , L F 2021 , ' Waste-derived volatile fatty acids as carbon source for added-value fermentation approaches ' , FEMS Microbiology Letters , vol. 368 , no. 9 , fnab054 . https://doi.org/10.1093/femsle/fnab054