(3ar) Current Developments in Wastewater Treatment Facility-Based Biorefinery Concept Producing Biofuel Feedstock Biocrude

This poster will present a summary of the most recent developments in our group's ongoing study on developing a wastewater treatment plant–based biorefinery concept producing biofuel feedstock lipids and other potentially high value bioproducts. These include (1) the use volatile fatty acids obtained via anaerobic digestion of lignocellulose biomass as platform chemical/fermentation substrates for biocrude production by activated sludge cultures; (2) the evaluation of high-strength industrial wastewaters originating from pulp and paper mills, poultry processing plants, and landfill leachates as fermentation media and nutrient source for the fermentative biocrude production process; and (3) the evaluation of the pilot-scale facility containing twin 500-L bioreactor units with downstream processing equipment for a larger-scale production of biocrude. These studies will aim to further improve the cost-effectiveness of the proposed biocrude production process using existing wastewater treatment facility infrastructure by using low-cost and abundant carbon and nutrient sources and optimizing the downstream recovery processes to minimize utilities and operational costs.