title: Polyhydroxybutyrate production from oil palm empty fruit bunch using Bacillus megaterium R11.
abstract: Oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB), contains abundant cellulose and hemicelluloses and can be used as a renewable resource for fuel and chemical production. This study, as the first attempt, aims to convert OPEFB derived sugars to polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB). OPEFB collected from a Malaysia palm oil refinery plant was chemically pretreated and enzymatically hydrolyzed by an in-house prepared cellulase cocktail. The PHB producer, Bacillus megaterium R11, was isolated in Singapore and could accumulate PHB up to 51.3% of its cell dry weight (CDW) from both glucose and xylose. Tryptone was identified as its best nitrogen source. PHB content and production reached 58.5% and 9.32 g/L, respectively, for an overall OPEFB sugar concentration of 45 g/L. These respectively reached 51.6% and 12.48 g/L for OPEFB hydrolysate containing 60 g/L sugar with a productivity of 0.260 g/L/h.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering & Pharmaceutics, Wuhan Institute of Technology, China.
authors.forename: Youhong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering & Pharmaceutics, Wuhan Institute of Technology, China; School of Life Sciences and Chemical Technology, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore.
authors.forename: Wandong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences and Chemical Technology, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore.
authors.forename: Hengwei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences and Chemical Technology, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore. Electronic address: gan2@np.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Anli
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Geng
mesh_terms: D028023:Arecaceae / Q000378:metabolism*; D001410:Bacillus megaterium / Q000378:metabolism*; D002087:Butyrates / Q000378:metabolism*; D003470:Culture Media; D054813:Polyhydroxyalkanoates / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D002087:Butyrates; D003470:Culture Media; D054813:Polyhydroxyalkanoates
keywords: Bacillus megaterium R11; Enzymatic hydrolysis; Oil palm empty fruit bunch; Polyhydroxybutyrate; Xylose