Valorization of the Enzyme Production Side Streams Using Mixed Culture Biorefinery and Membrane Technologies for Zero-Waste Approach

The project addresses the need for sustainable manufacturing practices, which is a key aspect of industrial sustainability. By adopting a biorefinery approach to valorize waste streams generated from enzyme production, the project aims to reduce waste, minimize greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and decrease the depletion of natural resources. This approach helps to mitigate pollution and create revenue streams from residue streams, which improves economic sustainability. The project contributes to the development of industrial sustainability by exploring the use of mixed microbial cultures (MMC) to convert waste streams into high-value compounds. This approach is more resistant and resilient to environmental changes thanks to metabolic collaboration and flexibility, which improves the overall efficiency of the biorefinery process. More in detail, collaboration between Novozymes and AAU will address an industry need by reducing the environmental impact of enzyme production. At Novozymes a new full-scale Nano Filtration and Reverse Osmosis facility was installed in 2023 in the Novozymes AC recovery facility, Kalundborg. This installation will allow Novozymes to save on water consumption in the recovery process of the enzymes. However, the up-concentrated stream has high nutrient and salt concentrations, which might hinder the conventional wastewater treatment process currently used. Therefore, the collaboration with AAU to adapt more tolerant and robust MMC to valorize the new stream is of particular interest. AAU has a strong analytical platform that can be used to support the project including an elemental analyzer that can be used to determine the composition of the waste streams. In addition, NMR, GC, and LC-MS etc. can be used to characterize the waste stream and analyze fermentation products. AAU can provide expertise in the characterization of residual streams, biorefineries, enrichment of MMC on waste streams, and supply know-how on the production of valuable compounds such as bioplastics, green chemicals, and biofuels from waste streams using fermentation. AAU can assist with development of techno-economic models which can help evaluate the economic viability of the project outcome. This collaboration can lead to a sustainable and economically viable solution for enzyme production wastewater treatment.