• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.206-212
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• 1998

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.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.390-397
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• 2023

Conventional extraction methods for polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), a sustainable alternative to petroleum-based plastics, cause a decrease in molecular weight and a change in properties. In this work, we developed a method to extract PHB accumulated in microorganisms by physical disruption through filtration using a spiked carbon nanotube (CNT) membrane with functionalized CNT. In addition, filtration of the PHB-containing microbial solution was performed to confirm PHB extraction, which was found to be 4% more efficient than chloroform, the most used extraction method. These results indicate that the spiked CNT membrane has potential in the bioplastics recovery process.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.11
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• pp.1936-1943
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• 2015

The present study developed an efficient and environmentally friendly method for recovering polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) from Cupriavidus necator. Several non-halogenated solvents were tested and it was found that butyl acetate and ethyl acetate are powerful solvents for the biopolymer. Testing was performed to examine the effects of temperature (25℃ until temperature below solvent boiling points) and heating incubation time (0-60 min) on the two solvents. Butyl acetate had a higher recovery level (96%) and product purity (up to 99%) than ethyl acetate at 103℃ and a heating incubation time of 30 min. Under these conditions, PHB recorded the highest molecular weight of 1.4 × 10⁶ compared with the standard procedure (i.e., recovery using chloroform). The proposed strategy showed that butyl acetate is a good alternative to halogenated solvents such as chloroform for recovery of PHB.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.533-539
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• 1995

An autolytic system based on a thermally inducible phage lambda, λHL1, has been applied for the recovery of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) [PHB] from a recombinant Escherichia coli XL1-Blue, harbouring a plasmid (pSYL105) containing the Alcaligenes eutrophus PHB biosynthesis genes. The lytic capability ofλHL1 was evaluated in flask culture for both lysogens, XL1-Blue (λHL1) and XL1-Blue (λHL1, pSYL105). When the optical density of culture at 600nm(OD600) reached 0.2, cell lysis was induced by increasing the temperature from $30^{\circ}C$ to $42^{\circ}C$. Most cells of XL1-Blue ($\lambda$HL1) were lysed by the autolytic system in an hour after the thermal induction, while the lytic efficiency was slightly lower for XLl-Blue (λHL1, pSYL105). The existence of pSYL105 in cells seemed to inhibit, to some extent, the lytic capability of λHL1 even at low PHB content. The lylic efficiency remarkably decreased as the induction was delayed to allow PHB accumulation. When a chemical induction using 2% (v/v) chloroform was introduced after an hours of thermal induction, we could obtain a good lytic efficiency.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.238-240
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• 1995

A novel and simple purification method for microbial $poly-{\beta}-hydroxybutyrate$ (PHS) was developed. Sodium hydroxide was found to be efficient for digesting cell materials. Initial biomass concentration, NaOH concentation, digestion time, and incubation temperature were optimized. When 40 g/l of biomass was incubated in 0.1 N NaOH at $30^{\circ}C$ for 1 h, PHB purity of 88.4% with a weight average molecular weight ($M_w$) of 770,000 and a polydispersity index (PI) of 2.4 was recovered with a yield of 90.8% from the biomass which initially contained PHB of a $M_w$ of 780,000 and a PI of 2.3.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.850-855
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• 2009

Keratin is an important protein used in wound healing and tissue recovery. In this study, keratin was modified chemically with iodoacetic acid (IAA) to enhance its solubility in organic solvent. Poly(hydroxybutylate-co-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) and modified keratin were dissolved in hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) and electrospun to produce nanofibrous mats. The resulting mats were surface-characterized by ATR-FTIR, field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA). The pure m-keratin mat was cross-linked with glutaraldehyde vapor to make it insoluble in water. The biodegradation test in vitro showed that the mats could be biodegraded by PHB depolymerase and trypsin aqueous solution. The results of the cell adhesion experiment showed that the NIH 3T3 cells adhered more to the PHBV/m-keratin nanofibrous mats than the PHBV film. The BrdU assay showed that the keratin and PHBV/m-keratin nanofibrous mats could accelerate the proliferation of fibroblast cells compared to the PHBV nanofibrous mats.