bioplasticsMAGAZINE_1205

Materials
slaughterhouses, the animal waste rendering industry,
and biodiesel production. Lipids from slaughterhouse
waste are converted to fatty acid methylesters (FAMEs,
biodiesel). FAMEs consisting of saturated fatty acids,
generally constitute a fuel that has an elevated cold filter
plugging point (CFPP) which can be disadvantageous
in blends that exceed 20% by vol. FAMEs. In ANIMPOL,
these saturated fractions are biotechnologically
converted towards PHA biopolymers. As a by-product
of the transesterification of lipids to FAMEs, crude
glycerol phase (CGP) accrues in high quantities. CGP
is also available as a carbon source for the production
of catalytically active biomass and the production of
low molecular mass PHA. This brings together waste
producers from the animal processing industry with meat
and bone meal (MBM) producers (rendering industry),
the bio-fuel industry and polymer processing companies.
This synergism results in value creation for all players.
The basic scheme is illustrated in Fig. 3, whereas Fig. 4
provides a rough estimation for the available amounts
of raw materials in Europe and the amounts of PHA
biopolyesters that are theoretically accessible therefrom.
Major Objectives of ANIMPOL
The project activities are based on a total of 13 main
pillars:
1. Design of an integrated industrial process for
microbial mediated, cost-efficient production of
biodegradable PHA biopolyesters, by starting from
waste from slaughterhouses, rendering industry, and
biodiesel production. These wastes are upgraded to
renewable raw materials. After the end of the project,
data should be available for designing a pilot scale
production plant.
2. Improvement of the quality of biodiesel by removal of
its saturated fraction.
3. Assessment of the raw materials (lipids from animal
waste, saturated biodiesel fraction, surplus glycerol
from biodiesel production) for the fermentation
process by selected microbial strains accumulating
structurally diversified PHAs.
4. For improvement of microbial growth and quality, and
the amount of the PHA produced, appropriate strains
are studied, including recombinant gene expression
or host cell genome modification. Microbial growth
and the PHA production phase are established to be
scaled-up for optimized production of structurally
predefined PHAs. Protocols for controlled PHA
production are developed aiming at reproducible
product quality.
6. Development of an environmentally safe, inexpensive
and efficient downstream process for recovery and
purification of PHAs.
Figure 2: Highly elastic medium-chain length PHA latex
produced by a Pseudomonas strain on animal-derived biodiesel.
(Picture: M. Koller, TU Graz)
Rendering
Industry
MBM
(Meat and Bone
Meal)
Carbon and
Nitrogen source for
microbial growth
Grude Glycerol
265.000
metric tons/year
Catalytically
ActiveBiomass
(0.4-0.5g/g)
ANIMAL
Lipids
Biotechnological
Production of PHAs
Polymer Industry
PHA
120.000 t
(0.3g/g)
Animal Waste Lipids
500.000 t/y
Saturated
Fraction
50.000 t/year
PHA
35.000 t
(0.7g/g)
Slaughterhouses
Biodiesel Industry
(Transesterification)
CPG
(Crude Glycerol
Phase)
Carbon source for
- Microbial growth
- Low molecular mass
PHA accumulation
Saturated
fraction
Carbon source
for PHA production
Biodiesel
Figure 4: Available raw materials for the ANIMPOL process
and potentially accessible quantities of PHA biopolyesters
Biodiesel
(Fatty Acid
Alkyl Esters)
Figure 3: Application of different waste streams from diverse
industrial branches to be utilized for biopolymer production in
the ANIMPOL project
Unsaturated:
Biodiesel
High Quality
Unsaturated
Fraction
Excellent 2 nd
generation
Biofuel!
bioplastics MAGAZINE [05/12] Vol. 7 27