초록
<P><B>Abstract</B></P> <P>Oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB), contains abundant cellulose and hemicelluloses and can be used as a renewable resource for fuel and chemical production. This study, as the first attempt, aims to convert OPEFB derived sugars to polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB). OPEFB collected from a Malaysia palm oil refinery plant was chemically pretreated and enzymatically hydrolyzed by an in-house prepared cellulase cocktail. The PHB producer, <I>Bacillus megaterium</I> R11, was isolated in Singapore and could accumulate PHB up to 51.3% of its cell dry weight (CDW) from both glucose and xylose. Tryptone was identified as its best nitrogen source. PHB content and production reached 58.5% and 9.32g/L, respectively, for an overall OPEFB sugar concentration of 45g/L. These respectively reached 51.6% and 12.48g/L for OPEFB hydrolysate containing 60g/L sugar with a productivity of 0.260g/L/h.</P> <P><B>Highlights</B></P> <P> <UL> <LI> The first report on converting oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) to PHB. </LI> <LI> The first use of a <I>Bacillus megaterium</I> to convert glucose and xylose to PHB. </LI> <LI> Cellulase was produced on-site and used for OPEFB hydrolysis. </LI> <LI> PHB titer 12.48g/L and productivity 0.260g/L/h were the highest for biomass. </LI> </UL> </P>