ENHANCEMENT OF VOLATILE FATTY ACID PRODUCTION FROM DAIRY WASTEWATER-EnVFAPro
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | KUNGLIGA TEKNISKA HÖGSKOLAN - Enheten för Kemiteknik - Processteknik, KTH |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 1 183 038 |
| Project duration | January 2017 - December 2018 |
| Status | Completed |
Purpose and goal
There were 2 aims in the beginning of the project: 1- Develop a sustainable process to produce VFAs as feedstock for a circular economy: Understanding the VFA profile produced during the anaerobic treatment of dairy industry wastewater, using bioaugmentation strategy to develop an efficient microbial seed sludge that will maximise VFA production, analysis microbial dynamics and modelling. 2-Develop a career as woman researcher: Developing a research group, receiving new grants, completing mentor program and pedagogical courses, developing collaborations.
Expected results and effects
1-Synthetic microbial communities for each acid type were developed via bioaugmentation. This was achieved through investigating and optimising the effect of operational and environmental conditions on the diversity and metabolism of active microbial populations in acidogenic reactors. 2-Develop a career as woman researcher: A group was established, new grants (Re:source and FORMAS) were received, scientific and industrial collaborations (IVL, Syvab, Xylem) were developed.
Planned approach and implementation
Regarding to the results obtained from lab-scale reactor operation in the scope of EnVFAPro is being applied to pilot-scale application now in the cope of CarbonNextGen Project which is supported by Re:source via Swedish Energy Agency. After pilot-plant application, the process will be developed to full-scale in the 5-7 years. Additionally, I have applied to ERC Starting Grant by using EnVFAPro results as supportive data.