Abstract
The aims of this study were to assess the large-scale extraction and recovery of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) biosynthesized by mixed microbial consortia (MMC) that was fed fermented dairy manure at the pilot level using green solvents (ethanol, cyclohexanone (CYC), and dimethyl carbonate (DMC)). The reflux extraction procedure with CYC for 3 h at 130 °C and DMC for 4 h at 90 °C showed the highest recovery (32.3%) with an overall pure yield of 30.0%. A modified Soxhlet extraction process was also evaluated and gave lower crude (18–20%) and purified (12.7–13.8%) PHBV yields. The molar mass of extracted PHBV with DMC in reflux was 7.07 × 105 g·mol−1 which was comparable to the control. The thermal, mechanical, and rheological behavior of extracted PHBV were also examined. Mechanical properties result showed that strength and modulus values of the polymers extracted in the large Soxhlet extractor were lower than those extracted by reflux.
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•PHBV was produced from fermented dairy manure using mixed microbial culture.•PHBV was extracted from biomass using various green solvents.•Dimethyl carbonate was a suitable green solvent for PHBV extraction.•PHBV thermal, rheological and mechanical properties were evaluated.