Biobased chemical and energy recovered from waste microbial matrices

Advancement in bioprocessing has brought 3rd generation biorefineries closer to becoming environmentally and economically sustainable. However, due to the costs and supply reliability of feedstocks, energy consumption, and byproducts cleanup/disposal, it is still economically unfeasible to construct and operate a profitable commercial-scale biorefinery. Integration of microbial biomass within an established distributed infrastructure could provide the foundation of a biorefining industry if numerous products are developed and commercialized. Current peer-reviewed literature offers various technologies to transform microbial biomass from wastewater treatment operations into numerous high-value products and energy. This paper describes some of these opportunities with the goal of envisioning more sustainable and cost-effective wastewater treatment systems. The recovery of resources from waste could be extended to many other systems.