Abstract
Following the growing demand to improve both economic and environmental performance of PHAs production, the research focused on the evaluation of the economic and environmental performance of PHAs production process via aqueous two-phase extraction (ATPE). Thus, the process analysis of two processes with different PHAs purification and recovery strategies (which are with and without thermoseparating ATPE as primary purification step) was performed. Using the basis of 9000 tons PHAs production per year and 7920 operating hours, the process with thermoseparating ATPE as primary purification step standout in terms of both economic and environmental performance. PHA production cost of 5.77 US$/kg with a payback period of fewer than 4 years and ROI of 25.2% was achieved. The results showed that most of operating cost is contributed by facility-dependent cost and raw material cost, while the main contributor to raw material cost is carbon source. The insight from sensitivity analysis has demonstrated that the economic performance is sensitive to the fluctuation in surfactant cost. This proved that utilizing thermoseparating ATPE as primary recovery step not only helps to reduce chemical consumption, it also minimizes downstream equipment cost and wastewater treatment cost.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- AP:
-
Acidification or acid-rain potential
- ATP:
-
Aquatic toxicity potential
- ATPE:
-
Aqueous two-phase extraction
- DCW:
-
Dry cell weight
- EOPO:
-
Ethylene oxide–propylene oxide copolymer
- GWP:
-
Global warming potential
- HTPE:
-
Human toxicity potential by either inhalation or dermal exposure
- HTPI:
-
Human toxicity potential by ingestion
- LCA:
-
Life cycle assessment
- NPCM:
-
Non-PHAs cell mass
- ODP:
-
Ozone depletion potential
- PEI:
-
Potential environmental impact
- PHA:
-
Polyhydroxyalkanoates
- POP:
-
Photochemical oxidation or smog formation potential
- SPI:
-
Sustainable Process Index
- TMS:
-
Trace mineral solution
- TTP:
-
Terrestrial toxicity potential
- WCO:
-
Waste cooking oil
References
Akiyama M, Tsuge T, Doi Y (2003) Environmental life cycle comparison of polyhydroxyalkanoates produced from renewable carbon resources by bacterial fermentation. Polym Degrad Stab 80:183–194
Choi J-I, Lee YS (1997) Process analysis and economic evaluation for poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) production by fermentation. Bioprocess Eng 17:335–342
Dong Z, Sun X (2000) A new method of recovering polyhydroxyalkanoate from Azotobacter chroococcum. Chin Sci Bull 45:252–256
Fernandez-Dacosta C, Posada J, Kleerebezem R, Cuellar M, Ramirez A (2015a) Microbial community-based polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) production from wastewater: techno-economic analysis and ex-ante environmental assessment. Biores Technol 185:368–377
Fernandez-Dacosta C, Posada JA, Kleerebezem R, Cuellar MC, Ramirez A (2015b) Microbial community-based polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) production from wastewater: techno-economic analysis and ex-ante environmental assessment. Bioresour Technol 185:368–377
Goedkoop M, Spriensma R (2001) The Eco-indicator 99: a damage oriented method for life cycle impact assessment. Methodology report
Grengross T, Slater S (2000) How green are green plastics? Sci Am 283:36–41
Gurieff N, Lant P (2007) Comparative life cycle assessment and financial analysis of mixed culture polyhydroxyalkanoate production. Biores Technol 98:3393–3403
Han FI, Natrajan BR, Revathi P (2001) GreenPro: a new methodology for cleaner and greener process design. J Loss Prev Process Ind 14:307–328
Harding K, Dennis J, von Blottnitz H, Harrison S (2007) Environmental analysis of plastic production process: comparing petroleum-based polypropylene and polyethylene with biologically-based poly-β-hydroxybutyric acid using life cycle analysis. J Biotechnol 130:57–66
Heimersson S, Morgan-Sagastume F, Peters GM, Werker A, Svanstrom M (2014) Methodological issues in life cycle assessment of mixed-culture polyhydroxyalkanoate production utilising waste as feedstock. New Biotechnol 31:383–393
Hilaly A, Sikdar S (1995) Pollution balance method and the demonstration of its application to minimizing waste in a biochemical process. Ind Eng Chem 34:2051–2059
Hyde M (1998) Ecological consideration on the use and production of biosynthetic and synthetic biodegradable polymers. Polym Degrad Stab 59:3–6
IChemE (2002) The sustainability metrics (online)
Jacquel N, Lo C-W, Wei Y-H, Wu H-S, Wang SS (2008) Isolation and purification of bacterial poly(3-hydroxyalkanoates). Biochem Eng J 39:15–27
Kepka C, Collet E, Persson J, Ståhl Å, Lagerstedt T, Tjerneld F, Veide A (2003) Pilot-scale extraction of an intracellular recombinant cutinase from E. coli cell homogenate using a thermoseparating aqueous two-phase system. J Biotechnol 103:165–181
Khoo HH, Tan RBH (2010) Environmental impacts of conventional plastic and bio-based carrier bags. Int J Life Cycle Assess 15:338–345
Kim S, Dale B (2005) Lifecycle assessment study of biopolymer (polyhydroxyalkanoates) derived from no-tilled corn. Int J Life Cycle Assess 10:200–210
Kim S, Dale B (2008) Energy and greenhouse gas profiles of polyhydroxybutyrates derived from corn grain: a life cycle perspective. Environ Sci Technol 42:7690–7695
Koller M, Hesse PJ, Bona R, Kutschera C, Atlic A, Braunegg G (2007) Various archae- and eubacterial strains as potential polyhydroxyalkanoates producers from whey lactose. Macromol Biosci 7:218–226
Koller M, Sandholzer D, Salerno A, Braunegg G, Narodoslawsky M (2013) Biopolymer from industrial residues: life cycle assessment of poly(hydroxyalkanoates) from whey. Resour Conserv Recycl 73:64–71
Krotscheck C, Nardolawsky M (1996) The sustainable process index a new dimension in ecological evaluation. Ecol Eng 6:241–258
Lee SY, Choi J-I (1998) Effect of fermentation performance on the economics of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) production by Alcaligenes latus. Polym Degrad Stab 59:387–393
Miller SA, Billington SL, Lepech MD (2013) Improvement in environmental performance of poly(β-hydroxybutyrate)-co-(β-hydroxyvalerate) composites through process modifications. J Clean Prod 40:190–198
Mudliar SN, Vaidya AN, Suresh Kumar M, Dahikar S, Chakrabarti T (2007) Techno-economic evaluation of PHB production from activated sludge. Clean Technol Environ Policy 10:255–262
Ng HS, Tan CP, Mokhtar MN, Ibrahim S, Ariff A, Ooi CW, Ling TC (2012) Recovery of Bacillus cereus cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase and recycling of phase components in an aqueous two-phase system using thermo-separating polymer. Sep Purif Technol 89:9–15
Pietrini M, Roes L, Patel MK, Chiellini E (2007) Comparative life cycle studies on poly(3-hydroxybutyrate)-based composites on potential replacement for conventional petrochemical plastics. Biomacromolecules 8:2210–2218
Posada JA, Naranjo JM, López JA, Higuita JC, Cardona CA (2011) Design and analysis of poly-3-hydroxybutyrate production processes from crude glycerol. Process Biochem 46:310–317
Ramsay JA, Berger E, Ramsay BA, Chavarie C (1990) Recovery of poly-3-hydroxyalkanoic acid granules by a surfactant-hypochlorite treatment. Biotechnol Tech 4:221–226
Shonnard DR, Hiew DS (2000) Comparative environmental assessments of VOC recovery and recycle design alternatives for a gaseous waste stream. Environ Sci Technol 34:5222–5228
van Wegen RJ, Ling Y, Middelberg APJ (1998) Industrial production of polyhydroxyalkanoates using Escherichia coli: an economic analysis. Chem Eng Res Des 76:417–426
Young D, Cabezas H (1999) Designing sustainable processes with simulation: the waste reduction (WAR) algorithm. Comput Chem Eng 23:1477–1491
Yu J, Chen LXL (2006) Cost-effective recovery and purification of polyhydroxyalkanoates by selective dissolution of cell mass. Biotechnol Prog 22:547–553
Zhong ZW, Song B, Huang CX (2009) Environmental impacts of three polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) manufacturing processes. Mater Manuf Processes 24:519–523
Acknowledgements
This study is supported by the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (Malaysia, FRGS/1/2015/SG05/UNIM/03/1), the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOSTI02-02-12-SF0256), the Prototype Research Grant Scheme (Malaysia, PRGS/2/2015/SG05/UNIM/03/1), the University of Malaya Grant (PG116-2012B and RU018-2015), MyPhD scholarship from MyBrain15 Malaysia and National Science Council (Taiwan, NSC102-2221-E-155-057 and NSC101-2632-E-155-001-MY3).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Leong, Y.K., Show, P.L., Lan, J.CW. et al. Economic and environmental analysis of PHAs production process. Clean Techn Environ Policy 19, 1941–1953 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-017-1377-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-017-1377-2