Knowledge integration to promote waste-to-PHA biorefineries

Abstract

The development of biobased and circular value chains entails multiple opportunities and challenges and involves multiple actors across the value chain with different interests and available knowledge. The PHA value chain based on mixed microbial culture systems could be depicted as a sort of puzzle, whose different pieces are assembled in this thesis by integrating the available knowledge, tools, and methodologies. This thesis assisted the decision-making during the development of this innovative value chain at multiple levels: from solving the local bottlenecks (zoom in) within the anaerobic fermentation and the PHA downstream processing to forecast the development of waste-to-PHA biorefineries and developing a framework (zoom out) that connects stakeholders across the value chain.