Isolation of Polyhydroxyalkanoates from Fermentation Broth

1. ABSTRACT Polyhydroxyalkanoates are excellent polymeric materials for production of environmentally degradable packaging devices and have potential applicability in medical uses. Aim of this project was the isolation of PHA from fermentation broth. Two general approaches for isolation of biopolymers from fermentation broth have been determined and compared. The first possibility is a multistage extraction process, the second possibility for isolating polymers is a cell disruption process realized by a combined mechanical chemical treatment. Economic efficiency and ecological feasibility of PHA production very much depend on the recycling rate of process streams. Possibilities to recycle all process streams have been found. It was shown that process development contributes to an economically reasonable and environmentally safe overall process of biopolymers by optimization of downstream-processing.