Affiliations 

  • 1 School of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Engineering Campus, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia
  • 2 School of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Engineering Campus, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia. Electronic address: chvel@usm.my
Bioresour Technol, 2015;189:169-176.
PMID: 25889804 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2015.04.023

Abstract

Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) recovery from aerobic granules was investigated using four cell digestion agents, namely, sodium hypochlorite, sodium hydroxide, acetone and sodium chloride. Simultaneously, the removal of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and its effect on PHA yield were investigated. The highest PHA recovery yield was obtained using sodium hypochlorite, accounting for 89% cell dry weight (CDW). The highest PHA was recovered after the sodium hypochlorite completely removed the EPS from the aerobic granules. The average molecular weight (Mw) of the PHA recovered using sodium hypochlorite was 5.31 × 10(5)g/mol with only 1.8% molecular weight degradation. The energy and duration analysis for PHA recovery revealed that the sodium hypochlorite method required the least amount of energy and time at 0.0561 MJ/g PHA and 26 h, respectively. The PHA that was recovered was a P3(HB-co-HV) co-polymer.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.