Increased recovery and improved purity of PHA from recombinant Cupriavidus necator

Figures & data

Figure 1. The work flow for the recovery of P(3HB-co-3HHx) produced by recombinant Cupriavidus necator.

Table 1. Comparison of polyhydroxyalkanoates extraction methods⁶

Extraction method	Advantages	Disadvantages
Solvent extraction	Elimination of endotoxin/high purity	Break PHA granules morphology
	No polymer degradation	Hazards connected with halogenated solvents
		High price/Low recovery
Digestion by surfactants	Treatment of high cell densities	Low purity/Water waste
	No polymer degradation	treatment needed
Digestion by NaOCl	High purity	Degradation of the polymer
Digestion by NaOCl and chloroform	Low polymer degradation/ high purity	High quantity of solvent needed
Digestion by NaOCl and surfactants	Limited degradation/low operating cost
Digestion by chelate and surfactants	High purity/low environmental pollution	Large volume of wastewater
		Low degradation of the polymer
Selective dissolution of NPCM	High recovery and purity, low operating costs
Enzymatic digestion	Good recovery	High costs of enzymes
Bead mill disruption	No chemicals used	Require several passes
High pressure homogenization	No chemicals used	Poor disruption rate for low biomass levels
		Low micronization
Supercritical CO2	Low cost and toxicity	Low recovery
Using cell fragility	Use of weak extracting conditions
Air classification	High purity	Low recovery
Dissolved air flotation	No chemicals used	Require several consecutive flotation steps
Spontaneous liberation	No extracting chemicals needed	Low recovery

Figure 2. Effect of different concentrations of NaOH on the release of protein from bacterial cells. Values are means of three replications.

Jacquel N, Lo CW, Wei YH, Wu HS, Wang SS. Isolation and purification of bacterial poly(3-hydroxyalkanoates). Biochem Eng J 2008; 39:15 - 27; http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bej.2007.11.029

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