Natural biopolymers from plant sources contain many impurities (e.g., fat, protein, fiber, natural pigment and endogenous enzymes), therefore, an efficient purification process is recommended to minimize these impurities and consequently improve the functional properties of the biopolymer. The main objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of different purification techniques on the yield, protein content, solubility, water- and oil-holding capacity of a heteropolysaccharide-protein biopolymer obtained from durian seed. Four different purification methods using different chemicals and solvents (i.e., A (isopropanol and ethanol), B (isopropanol and acetone), C (saturated barium hydroxide), and D (Fehling solution)] to liberate the purified biopolymer from its crude form were compared. In most cases, the purification process significantly (p < 0.05) improved the physicochemical properties of heteropolysaccharide-protein biopolymer from durian fruit seed. The present work showed that the precipitation using isopropanol and acetone (Method B) resulted in the highest purification yield among all the tested purification techniques. The precipitation using saturated barium hydroxide (Method C) led to induce the highest solubility and relatively high capacity of water absorption. The current study reveals that the precipitation using Fehling solution (Method D) most efficiently eliminates the protein fraction, thus providing more pure biopolymer suitable for biological applications.
The present study was aimed to evaluate the suitability of agro-wastes and crude vegetable oils for the cost-effective production of poly-β-hydroxybutyrate (PHB), to evaluate growth kinetics and PHB production in Alcaligenes faecalis RZS4 and Pseudomonas sp. RZS1 with these carbon substrates and to study the biodegradation of PHB accumulated by these cultures. Alcaligenes faecalis RZS4 and Pseudomonas sp. RZS1 accumulates higher amounts of PHB corn (79.90% of dry cell mass) and rice straw (66.22% of dry cell mass) medium respectively. The kinetic model suggests that the Pseudomonas sp. RZS1 follows the Monod model more closely than A. faecalis RZS4. Both the cultures degrade their PHB extract under the influence of PHB depolymerase. Corn waste and rice straw appear as the best and cost-effective substrates for the sustainable production of PHB from Alcaligenes faecalis RZS4 and Pseudomonas sp. RZS1. The biopolymer accumulated by these organisms is biodegradable in nature. The agro-wastes and crude vegetable oils are good and low-cost sources of nutrients for the growth and production of PHB and other metabolites. Their use would lower the production cost of PHB and the low-cost production will reduce the sailing price of PHB-based products. This would promote the large-scale commercialization and popularization of PHB as an ecofriendly bioplastic/biopolymer.