Production and characterization of poly-3-hydroxybutyrate from biodiesel-glycerol by Burkholderia cepacia ATCC 17759

Biotechnol Prog. 2010 Mar-Apr;26(2):424-30. doi: 10.1002/btpr.355.

Abstract

Glycerol, a byproduct of the biodiesel industry, can be used by bacteria as an inexpensive carbon source for the production of value-added biodegradable polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). Burkholderia cepacia ATCC 17759 synthesized poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) from glycerol concentrations ranging from 3% to 9% (v/v). Increasing the glycerol concentration results in a gradual reduction of biomass, PHA yield, and molecular mass (M(n) and M(w)) of PHB. The molecular mass of PHB produced utilizing xylose as a carbon source is also decreased by the addition of glycerol as a secondary carbon source dependent on the time and concentration of the addition. (1)H-NMR revealed that molecular masses decreased due to the esterification of glycerol with PHB resulting in chain termination (end-capping). However, melting temperature and glass transition temperature of the end-capped polymers showed no significant difference when compared to the xylose-based PHB. The fermentation was successfully scaled up to 200 L for PHB production and the yield of dry biomass and PHB were 23.6 g/L and 7.4 g/L, respectively.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biofuels*
  • Biomass
  • Burkholderia cepacia / growth & development
  • Burkholderia cepacia / metabolism*
  • Esterification
  • Fermentation
  • Glycerol / metabolism*
  • Hydroxybutyrates / chemistry
  • Hydroxybutyrates / metabolism*
  • Molecular Weight
  • Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular
  • Peptide Chain Termination, Translational
  • Polyesters / chemistry
  • Polyesters / metabolism*
  • Polyhydroxyalkanoates / metabolism

Substances

  • Biofuels
  • Hydroxybutyrates
  • Polyesters
  • Polyhydroxyalkanoates
  • poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate
  • Glycerol