Substrate versatility of polyhydroxyalkanoate producing glycerol grown bacterial enrichment culture.

Waste-based polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production by bacterial enrichments generally follows a three step strategy in which first the wastewater is converted into a volatile fatty acid rich stream that is subsequently used as substrate in a selector and biopolymer production units. In this work, a bacterial community with high biopolymer production capacity was enriched using glycerol, a non-fermented substrate. The substrate versatility and PHA production capacity of this community was studied using glucose, lactate, acetate and xylitol as substrate.

Influence of the cycle length on the production of PHA and polyglucose from glycerol by bacterial enrichments in sequencing batch reactors.

PHA, a naturally occurring biopolymer produced by a wide range of microorganisms, is known for its applications as bioplastic. In recent years the use of agro-industrial wastewater as substrate for PHA production by bacterial enrichments has attracted considerable research attention. Crude glycerol as generated during biodiesel production is a waste stream that due to its high organic matter content and low price could be an interesting substrate for PHA production.

Impact of oxygen limitation on glycerol-based biopolymer production by bacterial enrichments.

The increasing production of bioethanol and biodiesel has resulted in the generation of a massive amount of crude glycerol, inducing the need for effective valorization of these waste streams. One of the valorization options could be through conversion of crude glycerol into a biopolymer using microbial community engineering in a feast-famine process. A complicating factor in the production of biopolymers from glycerol encountered in previous works is that two different types of polymers can be formed; polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) and polyglucose.

Microbial community engineering for biopolymer production from glycerol.

In this work, the potential of using microbial community engineering for production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) from glycerol was explored. Crude glycerol is a by-product of the biofuel (biodiesel and bioethanol) industry and potentially a good substrate for bioplastic production. A PHA-producing microbial community was enriched based on cultivation in a feast-famine regime as successfully applied before for fatty acids-based biopolymer production.