BioChem - Bioconversion of waste streams to produce high-value functional chemical products: fermentation and downstream purification
To shift to a sustainable society, it is not only imperative to devise innovative strategies to increase the efficiency of bio-based production processes but also to produce pure chemical products that are in demand and viable in comparison to fossil-based products.
The overall aim of this project is to establish a novel bio-based production platform through the co-fermentation of both municipal and industrial organic waste streams to produce pure and market-ready volatile fatty acids (VFAs). These can act as platform chemicals to replace petroleum-based products to help in the transition to a fossil-free and sustainable society.
The specific purpose is to:
- develop a biobased strategy to increase tailor-made VFA production from waste by an integrated approach of bioaugmentation and co-fermentation of municipal and organic wastes,
- separate and purify VFA mixtures into platform chemicals and for further ammonium acetate production and as leaching agents for valuable metal recovery from waste material,
- translate the research results to implementation through the design of an integrated system, environmental and economic evaluation as well as stakeholder’s engagement.
In this way, this project will achieve a new biobased platform to help in the transition to a sustainable society.
Partners
- KTH Royal Institute of Technology
- Ragn-Sells AB
Project period
January 2024-December 2026
Financing
Formas
Total budget
SEK 3,000,000
Project coordinator
KTH Researchers
