Patent ID: 8703470

Claim:
A method for causing the intracellular synthesis of a polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) from one or more non-methane volatile organic compounds (VOC's), comprising: a) providing one or more non-methane VOC's; b) providing a culture of microorganisms capable of metabolizing said one or more non-methane VOC's to produce a metabolized compound, wherein said culture is capable of incorporating a carbon contained within said metabolized compound into the PHA, wherein said culture is also capable of metabolizing methane, wherein said culture comprises methanotrophic and/or non-methanotrophic PHA-synthesizing microorganisms; c) providing a growth-culture medium that regulates the metabolism of said culture in which the availability of copper ions and/or iron ions to said culture is increased to cause said culture to produce particulate methane monooxygenase; d) exposing said culture in said growth-culture medium to said one or more non-methane VOC's, thereby causing or allowing said culture to convert said one or more non-methane VOC's into said metabolized compound; and e) manipulating said growth-culture medium to cause or allow said culture to use carbon contained within said metabolized compound for the intracellular synthesis of said PHA.