Ricerc@Sapienza

The selection and enrichment of a mixed microbial culture (MMC) for polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) production is a well-known technology, typically carried out in sequencing batch reactors (SBR) operated under a feast-famine regime. With a nitrogen-deficient carbon source to be used as feedstock for PHA synthesis, a nutrient supply in the SBR is required for efficient microbial growth.

Olive oil mill wastewaters (OMW) cause serious environmental pollution problems due to their high level of production and specific chemical characteristics. An innovative disposal treatment and simultaneous valorization technology consists of using OMW as a no-cost substrate for mixed microbial culture (MMC)-based polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) production process. Here, an MMC multi-stage process was developed in which after acidogenic fermentation, OMW was subjected to a solid liquid separation step by centrifugation.