This work describes the production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) as a side stream process on a municipal waste water treatment plant (WWTP) and a subsequent analysis of the production potential in Germany and the European Union (EU). Therefore, tests with different types of sludge from a WWTP were investigated regarding their volatile fatty acids (VFA) production-potential. Afterwards, primary sludge was used as substrate to test a series of operating conditions (temperature, pH, retention time (RT) and withdrawal (WD)) in order to find suitable settings for a high and stable VFA production. In a second step, various tests regarding a high PHA production and stable PHA composition to determine the influence of substrate concentration, temperature, pH and cycle time of an installed feast/famine-regime were conducted. Experiments with a semi-continuous reactor operation showed that a short RT of 4 days and a small WD of 25% at pH = 6 and around 30 °C is preferable for a high VFA production rate (PR) of 1913 mgVFA/(L×d) and a stable VFA composition. A high PHA production up to 28.4% of cell dry weight (CDW) was reached at lower substrate concentration, 20 °C, neutral pH-value and a 24 h cycle time. A final step a potential analysis, based on the results and detailed data from German waste water treatment plants, showed that the theoretically possible production of biopolymers in Germany amounts to more than 19% of the 2016 worldwide biopolymer production. In addition, a profound estimation regarding the EU showed that in theory about 120% of the worldwide biopolymer production (in 2016) could be produced on European waste water treatment plants.

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Discharge of toxic industrial wastewaters into biological wastewater treatment plants may result in inhibition of activated sludge bacteria (ASB). In order to find an appropriate method of detoxification, the wastewater of a pesticide-processing plant in Vietnam was treated with three different methods (Fe III , powdered activated carbon (PAC), Fenton (Fe II /H 2 O 2 )) analyzing the detoxification effect with the nitrification inhibition test (NIT), respiration inhibition test (RIT) and luminescent bacteria test (LBT). The heterotrophic ASB were much more resistant to the wastewater than the autotrophic nitrificants. The NIT turned out to be more suitable than the RIT since the NIT was less time-consuming and more reliable. In addition, the marine Aliivibrio fischeri were more sensitive than the nitrificants indicating that a lack of inhibition in the very practical and time-efficient LBT correlates with a lack of nitrification inhibition. With 95%, the Fenton method showed the highest efficiency regarding the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal. Although similar COD removal (60-65%) was found for both the Fe III and the PAC method, the inhibitory effect of the wastewater was reduced much more strongly with PAC. Both the NIT and the LBT showed that the PAC and Fenton methods led to a similar reduction in the inhibitory effect.