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<div class="csl-entry">Mahler, N. (2018). <i>A scalable platform bioprocess for the utilization of extreme halophilic organisms in circular economy</i> [Dissertation, Technische Universität Wien]. reposiTUm. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12708/80124</div>
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dc.identifier.uri
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12708/80124
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dc.description
eng: This dissertation investigates the potential of halophilic organisms for industrial recycling processes. The development of innovative recycling processes is part of current efforts of transfering the producing industry from a linear approach to a circular economy, which returns resources back to production cycles instead of emitting them into the environment. Novel strategies are required for an economically viable implementation of these recycling processes in industrial scale. The dissertation aims at developing a scalable platform process based on bioprocess technology principles in order to allow an efficient cultivation of halophilic microorganisms. This platform process shall be transferable to different scales and reactor types. The strategies developed in this work include the establishment of a controlled continuous culture, the design of a bioreactor setup that allows energy efficient cultivation and the development of a tool for real-time process monitoring. A remediation procedure for highly saline industrial waste water is used as an example process to demonstrate the upscale development. The organic contaminations that are contained in the waste water are biologically degraded by extreme halophilic organisms. After this biologi-cal treatment the cleaned waste water can be recycled in an electrolysis process in order to close the resource cycle for the salt. The thesis describes the development of this remediation process from shake flasks to a high-throughput continuous process in pilot scale. In a first step the degradation characteristics of the extreme halophilic archaeon Haloferax mediterranei were assessed. The study showed that H. mediterranei degrades a variety of organic compounds that are contained in industrial waste streams from chemical production plants, including organic acids and aromatic compounds. The second step of the development is focused on the design of a suitable bioreactor setup that allows the implementation of the bioprocess as part of a chemical production plant. A bubble column reactor was customized for continuous cultivation of halophilic microorganisms at low processing costs and high time-space yields. To enable highest productivities despite the slow growth characteristics of the cells, the bioreactor was equipped with a cell retention membrane. Novel strategies for process monitoring and process control in cell reten-tion setups were developed as third part of the upscaling. A softsensor was introduced that uses offgas measurements and elemental balancing in a first principle model approach to es-timate halophilic biomass concentration. Further, a feed forward control strategy was devel-oped that enables regulation of biomass concentration and that allows easy process handling. To underline the potential that extreme halophilic microorganisms show for circular economy, two industrial relevant application examples are presented in the final chapter of this thesis. The first example describes the treatment of process water from polymer production that con-tains highest concentrations of NaCl (> 100 g/L) and the second example describes a novel process to biologically treat waste water with highest contents of sulfate. The strategies developed for the example process can be extended to other platforms and application cases. Further, the approaches presented in this thesis can be applied in bioremediation, in resource recycling, for the production of valuable and unique halophilic biomole-cules, for large scale waste-to-value processes or for the recycling of saline waste waters in other industries (e.g. food industry). The dissertation shows the high potential that application of biological methods has for non-biological production plants (e.g. in chemical industry). Utilization of these biological processes despite the extreme conditions in conventional industrial plants is enabled by the unique characteristics of halophilic organisms. The platform process developed in the course of this dissertation allows integration of biotechnological methods in existing production processes by transferring cultivation of halophiles in more effective and continuous process steps. The results of this thesis may pave the way for the large scale utilization of halophiles in order to fulfil the demands for a sustainable circular economy.
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dc.description
Zusammenfassung in deutscher Sprache
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dc.format
191 Seiten
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dc.language
English
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dc.language.iso
en
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dc.subject
halophilic microorganisms
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dc.subject
recycling
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dc.subject
waste water
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dc.subject
bioremediation
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dc.subject
continuous bioprocessing
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dc.subject
bioreactor design
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dc.subject
process development
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dc.subject
process monitoring
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dc.subject
process control
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dc.title
A scalable platform bioprocess for the utilization of extreme halophilic organisms in circular economy
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dc.type
Thesis
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dc.type
Hochschulschrift
de
dc.contributor.affiliation
TU Wien, Österreich
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dc.publisher.place
Wien
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tuw.thesisinformation
Technische Universität Wien
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tuw.publication.orgunit
E166 - Institut für Verfahrenstechnik, Umwelttechnik und technische Biowissenschaften
