Integrated systems for biopolymers and bioenergy production from organic waste and by-products: a review of microbial processes

Recently, issues concerning the sustainable and harmless disposal of organic solid waste have generated interest in microbial biotechnologies aimed at converting waste materials into bioenergy and biomaterials, thus contributing to a reduction in economic dependence on fossil fuels. To valorize biomass, waste materials derived from agriculture, food processing factories, and municipal organic waste can be used to produce biopolymers, such as biohydrogen and biogas, through different microbial processes. In fact, different bacterial strains can synthesize biopolymers to convert waste materials into valuable intracellular (e.g., polyhydroxyalkanoates) and extracellular (e.g., exopolysaccharides) bioproducts, which are useful for biochemical production. In particular, large numbers of bacteria, including Alcaligenes eutrophus, Alcaligenes latus, Azotobacter vinelandii, Azotobacter chroococcum, Azotobacter beijerincki, methylotrophs, Pseudomonas spp., Bacillus spp., Rhizobium spp., Nocardia spp., and recombinant Escherichia coli, have been successfully used to produce polyhydroxyalkanoates on an industrial scale from different types of organic by-products. Therefore, the development of high-performance microbial strains and the use of by-products and waste as substrates could reasonably make the production costs of biodegradable polymers comparable to those required by petrochemical-derived plastics and promote their use. Many studies have reported use of the same organic substrates as alternative energy sources to produce biogas and biohydrogen through anaerobic digestion as well as dark and photofermentation processes under anaerobic conditions. Therefore, concurrently obtaining bioenergy and biopolymers at a reasonable cost through an integrated system is becoming feasible using by-products and waste as organic carbon sources. An overview of the suitable substrates and microbial strains used in low-cost polyhydroxyalkanoates for biohydrogen and biogas production is given. The possibility of creating a unique integrated system is discussed because it represents a new approach for simultaneously producing energy and biopolymers for the plastic industry using by-products and waste as organic carbon sources.