Sborník abstraktů 2010 - Fakulta chemická - Vysoké učení technické ...

Production of Polyhydroxyalkanoates
from Vegetable Oils by Cupriavidus
necator H16
Ondřej Šnajdar
Ivana Márová, Stanislav Obruča
Brno University of Technology, Faculty of Chemistry,
Department of Food Chemistry and Biotechnology
Purkyňova 118, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
xcsnajdar@fch.vutbr.cz
Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) offer an excellent alternative to traditional plastics
(polyethylene, polypropylene). PHA are biodegradable and environmental
friendly. Their mechanical properties are similar to the synthetic plastics. PHA are
produced by many bacterial strains that accumulate PHA as a carbon and energy
source. Production costs of PHA are much higher as compared to synthetic plastics.
Around 40% of total cost is a carbon source, so by using cheap carbon source we
are able to reduce the cost of PHA. In this work we have studied production of
PHA from vegetable oils by Cupriavidus necator H16 in batch mode. Following oils
were used: rapeseed, sunflower, corn, wine, soybean and olive. There have also
been used waste oils from restaurant and food industries. Incorporation of different
precursors for copolymer production was studied too. C. necator produced poly(3hydroxybutyrate)
(P3HB) from all tested oils. The highest yields of P3HB have been
achieved on waste oils. Of course, waste oils are both economic and ecologic carbon
sources for PHA production. Using 20 g/l of waste rapeseed oil from university
canteen, there has been produced 13,32 g/l of biomass containing 58,63% of P3HB at
the 84 th hour of cultivation. The highest yield of PHA in precursors study has been
achieved applying 1% propanol at the 24 th hour of cultivation. The PHA increase
has been 97% and produced PHA was composed from 91% of 3HB and 9% of 3-hydroxyvalerate.
Therefore, by adding 1% propanol we can increase PHA yield and
produce a copolymer with better mechanical properties.
Keywords: PHA, Cupriavidus necator, waste oils
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