Preliminary evaluation of biopolymers production by mixed microbial culture from citrus wastewater in a MBR system using respirometric techniques

This preliminary study was aimed at evaluating the feasibility to produce biopolymers (BP) from citrus wastewater by mixed microbial culture in an anaerobic/aerobic membrane bioreactor (A/O-MBR). The activated sludge of A/O-MBR successfully enriched microorganisms having a good capacity producing intracellular biopolymers. production BP found be about 0.55 mgCOD mgCOD−1 using pure acetate concentration 1000 L−1. When fermented wastewater, conversion into product 0.56 test performed with C/N equal 1000:1, whereas it only 0.12 100:5. results achieved suggested use as feedstock for although low biomass storage (0.26 mgCODbiomass−1) need optimizing operating conditions future studies.