Biorefinery development, techno-economic evaluation and environmental impact analysis for the conversion of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste into succinic acid and value-added fractions

Abstract

The organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) was used for biorefinery development within a circular bioeconomy context towards extraction of lipids/fats and proteins with 100% and 68% recovery yields, respectively, as well as succinic acid (SA) production. A nutrient-rich hydrolysate (89.1 g/L sugars) produced using crude enzymes derived via solid state fermentation of Aspergillus awamori, was employed in Actinobacillus succinogenes fermentation leading to 31.7 gSA/L with 0.68 g/g yield and 0.67 g/L/h productivity. The SA minimum selling price ($1.13–2.39/kgSA) considering 60,000 tSA/year production varied depending on co-product market prices and OFMSW management fees. The biorefinery using 1000 kg OFMSW contributes 35% lower CO2 emissions than conventional processes for the production of 105 kg vegetable oil, 87 kg vegetable protein and 206.4 kg fossil-SA considering also the CO2 emissions due to OFMSW landfilling. The proposed OFMSW biorefinery leads to cost-competitive SA production with lower CO2 emissions for OFMSW treatment.