Extraction of Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) from Biomas

Polyhydroxyalkanoates are a group of biopolymers which occur in cells of microorganisms. These biopolymers can be considered as alternatives to commonly used petrochemical materials such as polypropylene and polyethylene due to their physical and chemical properties. This bachelor thesis focuses on isolation of particular kind of PHA from biomass and contains both experimental and theoretical part. It consists of information about the origin and usage of PHA, challenges and problems of their biotechnological production and mainly various ways of downstream. Experimental part includes comparison of PHA extraction from biomass done by two ester solvents. Studied parameters were molecular weight of the polymer, solvent extraction ability and their resistance against hydrolysis. The main goal of this thesis was to verify the best process conditions of isolation done by nonhalogenated bio-solvent