The fermented liquid was clear and unadulterated after the CMS
filtration (the details are shown in Fig. S1 of the Supplementary
Information), which could be used to produce purer PHA comparing
with the traditional process (Morgan-Sagastume et al., 2011).
Besides, owing to the huge continuous mode reactor (AFR) with a working volume of 3.5 m3 and high efficiency of CMS
(100–120 L/h), 300 kg excess sludge could be treated per cycle,
which displayed a great excess sludge reduction potential of the
pilot system.