Valorization of fatty acid waste for bioplastics production using Bacillus tequilensis: Integration with dark-fermentative hydrogen production process

• PHA accumulation in Bacillus tequilensis was first time reported.
• Synthetic acids showed higher PHA production.
• Produced co-polymer P(3HB-co-3HV) showed higher fraction of HB.
• Integration of PHA synthesis with H2 production reduces the overall production and treatment cost.

Synthesis of bioplastics (polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA)) using Bacillus tequilensis, a newly isolated strain was investigated under aerobic condition using designed wastewater with synthetic acids (SA) and acidogenic fermented food waste (AFW) collected from biohydrogen (H2) producing anaerobic bioreactors as substrates. The isolate showed the ability to grow and accumulate PHA in both the substrates, with simultaneous waste remediation. Higher PHA synthesis was observed with SA (59% dry cell weight) compared to AFW (36% dry cell weight) with good substrate removal (SA, 87%; AFW, 59%). The PHA composition showed presence of co-polymer [P(3HB-co-3HV)] with varying contents of hydroxy butyrate (HB, 80–90%) and hydroxy valerate (HV, 10–15%) in both the substrates. High dehydrogenase activity was observed which leads to the formation of considerable quantity of PHA. AFW from H2 producing reactor as substrate contributes in reducing the production cost of both H2 as well as PHA embedded with waste valorization.

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