The enhanced material properties exhibited by the microbially synthetized polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) copolymer poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyhexanoate) [P(HB-co-HHx)] evidence that this naturally biodegrading biopolymer could replace various functionalities of established petrochemical plastics. In fact,… Click to show full abstract
The enhanced material properties exhibited by the microbially synthetized polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) copolymer poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyhexanoate) [P(HB-co-HHx)] evidence that this naturally biodegrading biopolymer could replace various functionalities of established petrochemical plastics. In fact, the thermal processability, toughness and degradation rate of P(HB-co-HHx) can be tuned by modulating its HHx molar content enabling to manufacture polymers à-la-carte. We have developed a simple batch strategy to precisely control the HHx content of P(HB-co-HHx) to obtain tailor-made PHAs with defined properties. By adjusting the ratio of fructose to canola oil as substrates for the cultivation of recombinant Ralstonia eutropha Re2058/pCB113, the molar fraction of HHx in P(HB-co-HHx) could be adjusted within a range of 2–17 mol% without compromising polymer yields. The chosen strategy proved to be robust from the mL-scale in deep-well-plates to 1-L batch bioreactor cultivations.
               
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