Polyhydroxybutyrate production using a wastewater microalgae based media

Bioproduct production from wastewater microalgae has the potential to contribute to societal needs with value added chemicals. Microalgae can remediate wastewater to remove nitrogen, phosphorus, and heavy metals and can be processed to produce biofuels and bioproducts. It was previously demonstrated that recombinant Escherichia coli could produce polyhydroxybutyrates (PHBs) when cultured on a wastewater microalgae wet lipid extracted media. In this present study, microalgae were harvested from the effluent of a wastewater treatment facility via centrifugation and hydrolyzed to create a liquid medium for recombinant E. coli growth and PHB production. Standard E. coli growth media was supplemented with various concentrations of hydrolyzed algal extract to produce a maximum of 31% PHB of the E. coli dry cell weight.