Biorefinery development, techno-economic evaluation and environmental impact analysis for the conversion of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste into succinic acid and value-added fractions.

The organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) was used for biorefinery development within a circular bioeconomy context towards extraction of lipids/fats and proteins with 100% and 68% recovery yields, respectively, as well as succinic acid (SA) production. A nutrient-rich hydrolysate (89.1 g/L sugars) produced using crude enzymes derived via solid state fermentation of Aspergillus awamori, was employed in Actinobacillus succinogenes fermentation leading to 31.7 g/L with 0.68 g/g yield and 0.67 g/L/h productivity. The SA minimum selling price ($1.13-2.39/kg) considering 60,000 t/year production varied depending on co-product market prices and OFMSW management fees. The biorefinery using 1000 kg OFMSW contributes 35% lower CO emissions than conventional processes for the production of 105 kg vegetable oil, 87 kg vegetable protein and 206.4 kg fossil-SA considering also the CO emissions due to OFMSW landfilling. The proposed OFMSW biorefinery leads to cost-competitive SA production with lower CO emissions for OFMSW treatment.