Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) Production Through Conversion of Glycerol by Selected Strains of Pseudomonas Mediterranea and Pseudomonas Corrugata

• Main Authors: R. Palmeri, F. Pappalardo, M. Fragala, M. Tomasello, A. Damigella, A. Catara
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: AIDIC Servizi S.r.l. 2012-06-01
• Series: Chemical Engineering Transactions
• Online Access: https://www.cetjournal.it/index.php/cet/article/view/7336

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are polyesters synthesized by numerous bacteria as an intracellular carbon and energy storage compounds in the cytoplasm of cells. To cut down the cost of production and optimize the PHA/dried cell weight different concentrations (1, 2 and 5 %) of refined glycerol and a crude glycerol from biodiesel process, were used as carbon source in a batch fermentation process. Pseudomonas mediterranea 9.1 as well as Pseudomonas corrugata 388 and A1 reference strains, grew and synthesized a medium-chain-length poly(3-hy-droxyalkanoates) elastomer both on crude and refined glycerol carbon sources. The mcl-PHA produced by P. mediterranea 9.1 grown on refined glycerol was apparently different as a result of a different metabolic pathway. Gas chromatography PHA’s Different monomeric units of side chains, which ranged from C12 to C19 in length in mcl-PHA(CG) and from C5 to C16 in mcl-PHA(RG) were obtained.