Return to search

Development of sustainable microbial fermentation strategies for the production of medium-chain length polyhydroxyalkanoates (mcl-PHAs) from biodiesel derived glycerol

Bio-plastics have emerged as a promising alternative to conventional petrochemical derived plastics particularly over the past few decades. Numerous production methods for bio-plastics have been researched; however, work remains towards developing a commercially viable and economical process. The purpose of this research was to develop a sustainable fermentation strategy for production and scale-up of medium-chain length polyhydroxyalkanoates (mcl-PHAs), or bio-plastics, using a novel strain of the gram negative bacterium Pseudomonas putida, LS46, with biodiesel derived waste glycerol (WG) as feedstock. Experiments were conducted to gain a basic understanding of the general growth patterns exhibited by LS46. Thereafter, flask-batch experiments were conducted to study effects of variation in media conditions upon cell biomass production and mcl-PHA accumulation. Subsequently, optimal medium conditions observed within flasks were scaled-up and employed in the operation of a pilot-scale fermenter to increase production capacity for mcl-PHAs. It was concluded that mcl-PHA production at commercial levels could be viable with advanced process optimization. / October 2015

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:MANITOBA/oai:mspace.lib.umanitoba.ca:1993/30658
Date January 1900
CreatorsSharma, Umesh
ContributorsCicek, Nazim (Biosystems Engineering), Levin, David (Biosystems Engineering) Sparling, David (Microbiology)
PublisherNot applicable
Source SetsUniversity of Manitoba Canada
Detected LanguageEnglish

Page generated in 0.0022 seconds