Application of thermo-separating aqueous two-phase system in extractive bioconversion of polyhydroxyalkanoates by Cupriavidus necator H16

Yoong Kit Leong; Pau-Loke Show; John Chi-Wei Lan; Rambabu Krishnamoorthy; Dinh-Toi Chu; Dillirani Nagarajan; Hong-Wei Yen; Jo-Shu Chang

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2019.121474

Application of thermo-separating aqueous two-phase system in extractive bioconversion of polyhydroxyalkanoates by Cupriavidus necator H16

Bioresour Technol. 2019 Sep:287:121474. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.121474. Epub 2019 May 14.

Authors

Yoong Kit Leong¹, Pau-Loke Show², John Chi-Wei Lan³, Rambabu Krishnamoorthy⁴, Dinh-Toi Chu⁵, Dillirani Nagarajan⁶, Hong-Wei Yen¹, Jo-Shu Chang⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan.
² Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Jalan Broga, Semenyih 43500, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
³ Biorefinery and Bioprocess Engineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering and Material Science, Yuan Ze University, No. 135 Yuan-Tung Road, Chungli, Taoyuan 320, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Civil and Chemical Engineering, VIT University, Vellore 632014, India; Department of Chemical Engineering, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, The Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
⁵ Centre for Molecular Medicine Norway (NCMM), Nordic EMBL Partnership, University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital, Norway; Faculty of Biology, Hanoi National University of Education, Hanoi, Viet Nam.
⁶ Research Center for Circular Economy, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan.
⁷ Department of Chemical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; Research Center for Circular Economy, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan; College of Engineering, Tunghai University, Taichung 407, Taiwan. Electronic address: changjs@mail.ncku.edu.tw.

PMID: 31122870
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.121474

Abstract

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), a family of biodegradable and renewable biopolymers show a huge potential as an alternative to conventional plastics. Extractive bioconversion (in situ product recovery) is a technique that integrates upstream fermentation and downstream purification. In this study, extractive bioconversion of PHAs from Cupriavidus necator H16 was performed via a thermo-separating aqueous two-phase system to reduce the cost and environmental impacts of PHAs production. Key operating parameters, such as polymer concentration, temperature, and pH, were optimized. The strategy achieved a yield and PF of 97.6% and 1.36-fold, respectively at 5% EOPO 3900 concentration, 30 °C fermentation temperature and pH 6. The PHAs production process was also successfully scaled up in a 2 L bioreactor. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on extractive fermentation of PHAs from Cupriavidus necator utilizing a thermo-separation system to achieve a better productivity and purity of the target product.

Keywords: Aqueous two-phase extraction; Extractive bioconversion; PHB purification; Polyhydroxyalkanoates; Thermo-separating polymer.

MeSH terms

Bioreactors
Cupriavidus necator*
Fermentation
Polyhydroxyalkanoates*
Water

Substances

Polyhydroxyalkanoates
Water