A fermentation process for the production of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) using waste cooking oil or waste fish oil as inexpensive carbon substrate

The utilization of waste cooking oil (WCO) or waste fish oil (WFO) as inexpensive carbon substrate for the production of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) by Cupriavidus necator H16 was investigated. Fed-batch cultivation mode in bioreactor was applied in this study. High cell dry weight (CDW) of 135.1 g/L, PHB content of 76.9 wt%, PHB productivity of 1.73 g/L/h, and PHB yield of 0.8 g/g were obtained from WCO. In the case of WFO, the CDW, PHB content, PHB productivity, and PHB yield were 114.8 g/L, 72.5 wt%, 1.73 g/L/h, and 0.92 g/g, respectively. The PHB productivity and yield obtained in the current study from WCO or WFO are among the highest reported so far for PHA production using oils as sole carbon substrate, suggesting that both WCO and WFO can be used as inexpensive carbon substrates for the production of PHA on an industrial scale.