Abstract
Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate) (P(3HB-4HB)) co-polymers were produced at bench-scale in fed-batch cultivations by Burkholderia sacchari from glucose (main carbon-source) and gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) as co-substrate. As P(3HB-4HB) properties highly depend on the 4-hydroxybutyrate (4HB) molar fraction, it is advantageous to have a thorough knowledge of the process in order to promote the production of the targeted final product. In this work, polymers with a 4HB molar percentage ranging from 1.5 to 8.4% (mol/mol) were obtained as consequence of a fine tuning of the fed-batch operation conditions, namely regarding the co-substrate feeding rate and its addition time, as GBL is toxic to B. sacchari cells. The best results regarding both the 4HB incorporation (molar%) and the co-polymer productivity (7.1% and 1.1 g/(L.h) respectively) were reached when a pulse of GBL (<10 g/L) was added early in the accumulation phase followed by a constant GBL addition at a rate similar to that of consumption so that a steady co-substrate concentration in the medium was maintained.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 825-833 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | International Journal of Biological Macromolecules |
Volume | 105 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Dec 2017 |
Keywords
- Bioreactor feeding strategy
- Burkholderia sacchari
- Gamma-butyrolactone
- P(3HB-4HB)
- Poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate)