Bioremediation of agricultural runoff and biopolymers production from cyanobacteria cultured in demonstrative full-scale photobioreactors

The present work evaluated polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) and carbohydrates production by wastewater borne cyanobacteria at demonstrative-scale (three photobioreactors (PBR) of 11.7 m3 each), using agricultural runoff as feedstock. Agricultural runoff was fed to PBR1, which was devoted to cyanobacteria selection and biomass growth. In PBR2, inorganic carbon was added in a feast and famine regime to favour PHB-accumulating microorganisms. Finally, inorganic carbon was continuously added in PBR3 to boost PHB accumulation. A high removal efficiency of 95% and 99% for total nitrogen and phosphorus was obtained, respectively. Cyanobacteria were successfully selected and outcompeted green microalgae. Results suggested that a minimum inorganic carbon concentration was needed to accumulate PHB while carbohydrates were accumulated only with CO2 additions. Maximum concentrations of 4.5%VSS and 69%VSS for PHB and carbohydrates were obtained. Overall, this study shows at demonstrative-scale the potential of cyanobacteria to produce PHB within a wastewater biorefinery concept. And it gives insight on the strategies needed to produce PHB with cyanobacteria at massive scale. © 2020 Institution of Chemical Engineers