Polyhydroxyalkanoate production from animal by-products: Development of a pneumatic feeding system for solid fat/protein-emulsions

Abstract

Fat-containing animal by-product streams are locally available in large quantities. Depending on their quality, they can be inexpensive substrates for biotechnological processes. To accelerate industrial polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) bioplastic production, the development of efficient bioprocesses that are based on animal by-product streams is a promising approach to reduce overall production costs. However, the solid nature of animal by-product streams requires a tailor-made process development. In this study, a fat/protein-emulsion (FPE), which is a by-product stream from industrial-scale pharmaceutical heparin production and of which several hundred tons are available annually, was evaluated for PHA production with Ralstonia eutropha. The FPE was used as the sole source of carbon and nitrogen in shake flask and bioreactor cultivations. A tailored pneumatic feeding system was built for laboratory bioreactors to facilitate fed-batch cultivations with the solid FPE. The process yielded up to 51 g L⁻¹ cell dry weight containing 71 wt% PHA with a space–time yield of 0.6 g_PHA L⁻¹ h⁻¹ without using any carbon or nitrogen sources other than FPE. The presented approach highlights the potential of animal by-product stream valorization into PHA and contributes to a transition towards a circular bioeconomy.