The project ran between December 2022 and June 2023.
The main aim of PureVFA was to develop and demonstrate a waste-to-value approach to recover pure chemical products with a high market value from organic wastes and residues. The specific purposes were (1) to produce and separate a waste-derived volatile fatty acid (VFA) mixture into pure VFA flows, (2) to produce and test ammonium acetate from separated high-purity acetic acid. In view of this, the project sought to produce and purify VFAs, which are building block chemicals for other bioprocesses, from secondary resources.
PureVFA focused on the use of membrane technology to recover one type of VFA, specifically acetic acid, from fermentation broths and further purification to produce ammonium acetate as a target chemical from the VFA platform. Ammonium acetate produced was intended to be used for calcium carbonate production from landfilled ashes and captured carbon dioxide. The VFA separation was achieved using nanofiltration membranes to recover acetic acid (up to 97% of organic carbon) in the permeate but lower concentration. The permeate was further concentrated (3x) with a reverse osmosis membrane. Using acetic acid of different concentrations, ammonium acetate was produced using ammonium salts and ammonia gas.
PureVFA has shown that recovery of one type of VFA from waste and residual streams and further purification to produce functional chemicals is achievable. In this way, this project has achieved a new bio-based production strategy for the market and will help transition to a sustainable society.
Participants
KTH and RagnSells.
Budget
The project’s total budget was 849 000 SEK.