Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), bioprocessing using waste oil

Pseudomonas oleovorans NCIMB 6576 and Ralstonia eutropha NCIMB 10442 were used for the production of Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) from industrial waste cooking oils, the bacteria were cultured on tryptone soya broth (TSB) and Tryptone soya agar (TSA). P. oleovorans NCIMB6576 gave a better percentage PHB yield (8.2%) with PS oil as carbon source as compared to 6.45% with TS oil. However, a very low yield (0.64%) was recorded when P. oleovorans NCIMB6576 was grown on TSB without the oils as carbon source. Ralstonia eutropha NCIMB 10442 gave an appreciable yield of 13.63% and 14.80% with PS and TS oil samples respectively as carbon source with negligible variation in the yields. The results obtained across all experiments were compared with one another. The SEM images from the PHB samples generated from the experiments shows that there is a slight difference in the surface morphologies of the PHB with respect to the oil samples as well as the different bacteria used in the experiment.