Chalima, Angelinade Castro, Laura FernandezBurgstaller, LukasSampaio, PaulaCarolas, Ana LúciaGildemyn, SylviaVelghe, FilipFerreira, Bruno SommerPais, CeliaNeureiter, MarkusDietrich, ThomasTopakas, EvangelosDe Castro, Laura Fernandez2021-05-01Chalima , 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/fnab0540378-1097researchoutputwizard: 11556/1146Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of FEMS.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’.1081420enginfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessjournal article10.1093/femsle/fnab054Dark fermentationOmega-3 fatty acidsPolyhydroxyalkanoatesSingle cell oilVolatile fatty acidsDark fermentationOmega-3 fatty acidsPolyhydroxyalkanoatesSingle cell oilVolatile fatty acidsMicrobiologyMolecular BiologyGeneticsSDG 7 - Affordable and Clean EnergySDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and ProductionProject IDinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/720777/EU/Biowaste derived volatile fatty acid platform for biopolymers, bioactive compounds and chemical building blocks/VOLATILEinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/720777/EU/Biowaste derived volatile fatty acid platform for biopolymers, bioactive compounds and chemical building blocks/VOLATILEFunding InfoThis work was supported by the European project ‘VolatileBiowaste-derived volatile fatty acid platform for biopolymers, bioactive compounds and chemical building blocks’ and has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 720777.This work was supported by the European project ‘VolatileBiowaste-derived volatile fatty acid platform for biopolymers, bioactive compounds and chemical building blocks’ and has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 720777.http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85107319059&partnerID=8YFLogxK