Abstract
In this work, volatile fatty acids (VFAs) were used as a carbon source to assess the ability of bacteria present in waste activated sludge (WAS), as indigenous flora, to accumulate polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA). Acetic acid and propionic acid were used both separately and in combination as feedstock, producing either homopolymer poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (3PHB) and/or the co-polymer, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) P(3HB-co-3HV). The overall potential to use waste activated sludge as biomass for production of valuable polymers was assessed, and a quality assessment of the as-produced polymers was run, with the extracted polymer being analyzed for properties such as thermal, microstructure and molecular weight. It was found that a blend of copolymers was typically produced, with thermal properties being similar to those reported elsewhere. The overall PHA cell content obtained was 0.29 gPHA gVSS−1.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided from Higher Education Commission of Pakistan through IRSIP under Grant (IRSIP 24 BMS 11) and Dr. Bronwyn Laycock, School of Chemical Engineering, University of Queensland, Australia who supported me in all experiments and provided an opportunity to carry out research work at their University.
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This research was supported by HEC under Grant IRSIP 24 BMS 11.
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This work was carried out by SM while reviewed and supervised by NJ.
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Munir, S., Jamil, N. Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production in open mixed cultures using waste activated sludge as biomass. Arch Microbiol 202, 1907–1913 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-020-01912-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-020-01912-0