Production of Polyhydroxybutyrate Under Nutrient Limiting Conditions from a Distillery Waste Isolate, Bacillus pumilus Dwi

Abstract

The biosynthesis of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) from distillery waste isolate, Bacillus pumilus Dwi was investigated. Bacillus pumilus Dwi (Gene Bank Accession No. GQ131871) was shown to accumulate maximum amount of polyhydroxybutyrate in the following nutrient limiting concentrations - 53.4 g/L carbon, 39.8 g/L phosphorus, 85.3 g/L nitrogen and 49.65 g/L sulfur. Furthermore, the recovered polymer was characterized for its chemical structure and thermal properties using NMR, GPC, DSC and its characteristics resemble that of polypropylene. So, our preliminary data supports the possibility of using alcoholic distillery waste water as the carbon source for producing polyhydroxybutyrate. This would be both environmentally and economically significant.