Authors
Chaehwi Yoon, 1? Department of Chemical Engineering State University of New York College of Environment Science and Forestry
Gundeep Kaur, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Yanying Cao, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Deepak Kumar, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) is a promising bioplastic to replace petroleum-based materials because of its biodegradability. It can be produced through the fermentation of monosaccharides followed by extraction methods using an energy-intensive method and toxic solvents such as chloroform, hexane, and dioxane. Herein, sustainable and eco-friendly deep eutectic solvents (DESs) were prepared to effectively recover PHB from the fermentation cells. We designed several hydrophobic DESs using natural compounds to dissolve the PHB. The rheological and thermal properties of DES were analyzed by rheometer, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). The dissolution of PHB was experimentally evaluated with the formed hydrophobic DESs and further discussed by computational methods. The thermal properties of recovered PHB were compared to the initial PHB using DSC and TGA. Also, this PHB recovery method was compared to the conventional solvent purification method using dried cells. The investigation of PHB solubilization and purification through DES media provides insight into an efficient and renewable PHB downstream process from being sustainable.
