Recovery of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) from the coagulated cells of Alcaligenes eutrophus

The effects of the pretreatment with coagulants on the recovery efficiency of poly (3-hydroxybutyrate, PHB) synthesized in Alcaligenes eutrophus were investigated. Al-base or Fe-base coagulants, and the dispersion method of 30% hypochlorite solution and chloroform were used as coagulants and PHB recovery method, respectively. The recovery efficiency of PHB from the cells harvested with Al-base coagulants at the range from 0 to 1000 mg-Al/L was similar to that from cells harvested without the coagulants. At these conditions, the concentrations of residual aluminium in the purified PHB were below 250 mg-Al/kg-PHB, indicating the effect of residual aluminum on the characteristics of the purified PHB can be insignificant. When the dosage of coagulants was over 1000 mg-Al/L, the PHB recovery remarkably decreased with increasing the coagulant dosage. However, the PHB recovery could be enhanced by the use of 50% hypochlorite solution instead of 30% hypochlorite solution. Even though the reduction of PHB recovery efficiency was not found by using Fe-base coagulants, the purified PHB was stained pale red due to residual iron, These results suggest that the use of Al-base coagulants did not exert bad influence on neither PHB recovery efficiency and PHB purity.