Polyhydroxybutyrate production by Cupriavidus necator in a corn biorefinery concept.

Ariane Fátima Murawski de Mello, Luciana Porto de Souza Vandenberghe, Clara Matte Borges Machado, Kim Kley Valladares-Diestra, Júlio César de Carvalho, Carlos Ricardo Soccol

Bioresource technology 2023 Feb

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The high costs of bioplastics' production may hinder their commercialization. Development of new processes with high yields and in biorefineries can enhance diffusion of these materials. This work evaluated the production of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) from the combination of milled corn starchy fraction hydrolysate and crude glycerol as substrates by the strain Cupriavidus necator LPB 1421. After optimization steps, maximum accumulation of 62 % of PHB was obtained, which represents 11.64 g.L-1 and productivity of 0.162 g.Lh-1. In a stirred tank bioreactor system with 8 L of operational volume, 70 % of PHB accumulation was reported, representing 14.17 g.L-1 of the biopolymer with 0.197 g.Lh-1 productivity. PHB recovery was conducted using a chemical digestion method, reaching >99 % purity. Therefore, the potential application of milled corn as substrate for PHB production was confirmed. The developed bioplastic process could be coupled to a bioethanol producing unit creating the opportunity of a sustainable and economic biorefinery. Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Citation

Ariane Fátima Murawski de Mello, Luciana Porto de Souza Vandenberghe, Clara Matte Borges Machado, Kim Kley Valladares-Diestra, Júlio César de Carvalho, Carlos Ricardo Soccol. Polyhydroxybutyrate production by Cupriavidus necator in a corn biorefinery concept. Bioresource technology. 2023 Feb;370:128537