Bioplastics from Waste Fats | Biopolymer Conference 2023 | May 15-16, 2023 | Singapore City, Singapore

 

Using bacteria to replace plastics derived from fossil oil



This is achieved by bacteria called Ralstonia eutropha or Cupriavidus necator, also known as oxyhydrogen bacteria. We let them sweat away for us, Riedel jokes. We place them in a mineral salt solution and feed them with nitrogen, phosphorous, oxygen and carbon. The carbon is added in the form of waste fats. Then we let the bacteria grow. After a certain time, we remove the nitrogen from the bacteria. They react to this deficiency by storing the now excess carbon in the waste fat as an energy reserve in their cells and converting it into PHAs.


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