Utilization of palm oil and palm oil effluent as a carbon source for the production of polyhydroxybutyrate co‐polyhydroxyhexanoate P(HB‐co‐HHx) a biopolymer in bacillus sp

Abstract

AbstractBACKGROUNDBiodegradable polymers are gaining a reputation as demand is increasing globally. Amongst these Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are attracting market attention as a consequence of their properties similar to those of conventional plastics. PHA is a natural polyester that is stored as an intracellular carbon (C) energy reserve of bacteria. This biopolymer can be extracted and used in place of petrochemical plastic. Medium chain‐length (mcl) PHA, specifically poly hydroxybutyrate‐co‐hydroxyhexanoate P (HB‐co‐HHx) copolymer produced by Bacillus, has gained practical attention owing to its superior physicochemical properties compared to the commonly synthesized PHB homopolymer. Co‐polymer production is dependent on C sources provided in the growth medium. In the present study we have employed palm oil and palm oil effluent as C source.RESULTSIn the current study, it was observed that a significant amount of PHA and biomass was produced when the effluent was prepared at a concentration of 100% instead of water for preparing the growth medium. The production of biomass and PHA showed a range of 4.8–8and 1.5–4 g L−1, respectively. This means that the PHA yield obtained using the effluent was 50–80% of the control, whereas the control yielded only 40–50%.CONCLUSIONPalm industry waste can be used as a substrate in bioprocessing industries. Proton nuclear magnetic resonance analysis of PHA obtained herein indicates that it consists of the mcl polymer P (HB‐co‐HHx). © 2024 The Author(s). Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).