An automated, modular system for organic waste utilization using heterotrophic alga Galdieria sulphuraria: Design considerations and sustainability

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Maximilian Julius Pahmeyer
  • Shahida Anusha Siddiqui
  • Daniel Pleissner
  • Janusz Gołaszewski
  • Volker Heinz
  • Sergiy Smetana

Large amounts of food are wasted and valuable contents are not utilized completely. Methods to process such wastes into biomass of defined composition automatically and in decentralized locations are lacking. Thus, this study presents a modular design for residue utilization and continuous production of the heterotrophic alga Galdieria sulphuraria. A life cycle and economic assessment are carried out on the hypothetical design to define whether the proposed system can be ecologically and economically viable. Producing one kg of dried biomass would cost 4.38 € and be associated with 3.8 kg CO2 eq emitted, 69.9 MJ of non-renewable energy use, and 0.09 m2 of land occupation. Sustainability is comparable to conventional protein sources, with further improvement foreseen through avoidance of drying. These results demonstrate how circular bioeconomy potentials of residues could be realized using heterotrophic G. sulphuraria. It highlights key issues of developing an environmentally and economically sustainable concept.

Original languageEnglish
Article number126800
JournalBioresource Technology
Volume348
Number of pages7
ISSN0960-8524
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.03.2022

Bibliographical note

This research is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), in the frame of FACCE-SURPLUS/FACCE-JPI project UpWaste, grant number 031B0934A and 031B0934B and by the National (Polish) Centre for Research and Development (NCBiR) (Project FACCE SURPLUS/III/UpWaste/02/2020).

Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

    Research areas

  • Food waste, Galdieria sulphuraria, Microalgae, Modular technology, Waste processing
  • Biology

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. Axel Springer Verlag
  2. On the Power of an Open Scientific Approach to Actions
  3. Multiple Coordination Patterns in Infant and Adult Vocalizations
  4. Collaboration or fragmentation?
  5. Teacher collaboration, inclusive education and differentiated instruction
  6. ‚Descriptio ancilla narrationis‘?
  7. Trajnostni razvoj v predsolskih ustanovah -
  8. Determination of bearing clearance by the application of neural networks
  9. What do teachers think and feel when analyzing videos of themselves and other teachers teaching?
  10. Centralized and decentralized utilization of organic residues for lactic acid production
  11. Portraying myth more convincingly
  12. The Development of Civil Societies
  13. The Hidden Space of Production
  14. Exploring universities' transformative potential for sustainability-bound learning in changing landscapes of knowledge communication
  15. Identification and initial toxicity assessment of Thalidomide and its phototransformation products
  16. The overburdened mother: How social workers view the private sphere
  17. Resolving conflicts between people and over time in the transformation toward sustainability
  18. Sustainable Development and Law
  19. A modeling assessment of the physicochemical properties and environmental fate of emerging and novel per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances
  20. The adaptive eater
  21. Well-being and Prosperity beyond Growth
  22. Species-Specific Effects on Throughfall Kinetic Energy in Subtropical Forest Plantations Are Related to Leaf Traits and Tree Architecture
  23. The structure of contributing factors of human error in safety-critical industries
  24. Interrogating urban crisis
  25. Franchising as a Strategy for Combining Small and Large Group Advantages (Logics) in Social Entrepreneurship
  26. Art Work as Life Work
  27. Questions liées au genre dans la scène berlinoise de l’electronic dance music
  28. Hamburg Maschine_revisited
  29. Die Rechtschreibung beim Textschreiben
  30. "Nimm Anlauf und spring"
  31. Implementing sustainable food forests
  32. Scope of the Book Advanced Treatment Technologies for Urban Wastewater Reuse
  33. Rhythm and Technics
  34. A learning factory approach on machine learning in production companies
  35. The German perspective of education for sustainable development
  36. Green Big Data – eine Green IT/Green IS Perspektive auf Big Data
  37. Evidence for the age and timing of environmental change associated with a Lower Palaeolithic site within the Middle Pleistocene Reinsdorf sequence of the Schöningen coal mine, Germany
  38. Water, rivers and wetlands