Patent ID: 7514525
Filing Date: 2009-04-07
Classification: C08G

Abstract:
1. A method to recover, purify and modify polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biopolymer solids from PHA-containing cells, which comprises the sequential steps of: (a) solubilizing non-PHA cell mass (NPCM) in an acidic solution, resulting in a suspension of partially crystallized PHA solids; (b) adjusting the pH of the suspension to 7-11, -and separating the PHA solids from the dissolved NPCM by filtration or centrifugation; (c) resuspending the PHA solids in a bleaching solution for decolorization; and (d) drying the resulting PHA solids, wherein hydrogen ions (H + ) released from an inorganic acid added to a slurry of PHA-containing cells are used to recover the PHA biopolymer solids from the PHA-containing cells.