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<p>Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) represents a promising biodegradable alternative to conventional plastics, yet its extraction from mixed microbial cultures (MMC) remains challenging owing to low intracellular accumulation (&lt; 35% of cell dry weight) and robust cell envelopes. Notably, the use of short-term acclimated sludge, while reducing cultivation time and cost, results in such low-PHA-content biomass (LPCB), further complicating extraction. The present study addresses these limitations by establishing an optimized and scalable recovery protocol for PHA derived from LPCB obtained from activated sludge acclimated under short-term anaerobic-aerobic conditions (24.6% PHA content). This focus on short-term acclimated sludge is pivotal for industrial scalability, as it leverages readily available wastewater treatment sidestreams and eliminates the need for costly, dedicated long-term acclimation reactors. To facilitate efficient cell disruption, pretreatment strategies were systematically investigated to weaken the hydrolysis-resistant MMC cell walls and reduce the dominance of the non-PHA cellular matrix (NPCM). Subsequent extraction employed dimethyl carbonate (DMC) as a green solvent. Critical extraction parameters—including solvent concentration, temperature, and reaction time—were optimized using a Taguchi orthogonal array design, with Minitab<sup>®</sup> employed to quantify the relative contribution of each parameter to recovery efficiency. The optimized process not only significantly enhanced PHA recovery from LPCB but also preserved polymer quality. Scale-up experiments demonstrated consistent performance under extended operational conditions, confirming the method’s potential for industrial application. This work thus proposes a scalable, cost-effective, and environmentally benign downstream strategy for PHA production from waste-derived biomass, contributing to more sustainable bioplastic manufacturing.</p>

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An Integrated NaClO-dimethyl Carbonate Process for Efficient Recovery of Polyhydroxyalkanoate from low-PHA-content Mixed Microbial Cultures

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年3月6日

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  • Tong Wei,
  • Qian Fang,
  • Hao Cui,
  • Shanshan Ma,
  • Xinlu Liu,
  • Mingye Jiang

摘要

Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) represents a promising biodegradable alternative to conventional plastics, yet its extraction from mixed microbial cultures (MMC) remains challenging owing to low intracellular accumulation (< 35% of cell dry weight) and robust cell envelopes. Notably, the use of short-term acclimated sludge, while reducing cultivation time and cost, results in such low-PHA-content biomass (LPCB), further complicating extraction. The present study addresses these limitations by establishing an optimized and scalable recovery protocol for PHA derived from LPCB obtained from activated sludge acclimated under short-term anaerobic-aerobic conditions (24.6% PHA content). This focus on short-term acclimated sludge is pivotal for industrial scalability, as it leverages readily available wastewater treatment sidestreams and eliminates the need for costly, dedicated long-term acclimation reactors. To facilitate efficient cell disruption, pretreatment strategies were systematically investigated to weaken the hydrolysis-resistant MMC cell walls and reduce the dominance of the non-PHA cellular matrix (NPCM). Subsequent extraction employed dimethyl carbonate (DMC) as a green solvent. Critical extraction parameters—including solvent concentration, temperature, and reaction time—were optimized using a Taguchi orthogonal array design, with Minitab® employed to quantify the relative contribution of each parameter to recovery efficiency. The optimized process not only significantly enhanced PHA recovery from LPCB but also preserved polymer quality. Scale-up experiments demonstrated consistent performance under extended operational conditions, confirming the method’s potential for industrial application. This work thus proposes a scalable, cost-effective, and environmentally benign downstream strategy for PHA production from waste-derived biomass, contributing to more sustainable bioplastic manufacturing.