Utilization of glycerol by Bacillus sp. ISTVK1 for production and characterization of Polyhydroxyvalerate

Abstract

Plastic due to its light weight and low cost is a first choice for daily use product, which now can be replaced by Bioplastics. The current study demonstrates the screening of a previously reported thermotolerant bacterium strain Bacillus sp. ISTVK1 isolated from wastewater treatment plant for production of PHA by utilizing pure glycerol as carbon source. Primary screening of the selected bacterium strain was performed by Nile red staining and afterward visualization under a fluorescence microscope. Nile red fluorescence measurement of bacterial culture was also investigated based on absorbance of spectrofluorometer. GC–MS, 1H NMR, TEM, and FT-IR analysis revealed that the produced material is PHV, which is co-polymer of PHB. Optimization of process parameters was performed to enhance the production of PHA. A substantial increase in PHA production from 1.29g/L to 4.44g/L (85.19% of CDW) was observed after optimization of process parameters, shows the importance of optimization.