Mechanical properties of poly-(3-hydroxy-co-4-hydroxybutyrate) isolated from extremophilic bacterium Aneurinibacillus sp. H1

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There is an increasing demand for biobased and biodegradable materials that would substitute for petrol-based plastics in the packaging industry. Poly-(3-hydroxy-co-4-hydroxybutyrate) is a natural copolymer produced by bacteria with high potential for use as active packaging. It is biodegradable, has good barrier properties, and its material characteristics are tunable by the ratio of monomers. However, it has not yet been successfully commercialized due to the high price of its production. One way for decreasing the price might be the production of the copolymer by extremophilic bacteria. Use of extremophiles makes the biotechnological production much less demanding on sterility, which makes it cheaper. This work deals with characterization of the material properties of poly-(3-hydroxy-co-4-hydroxybutyrate) obtained from the recently discovered Aneurinibacillus sp. H1. Samples of the copolymer with 30 and 60% 4-hydroxybutyrate were prepared and used for making thin films by automatic film applicator. These were characterized by gel permeation chromatography, profilometry, and scanning electron microscopy. The mechanical properties were determined by a tensile test. The results show that the mechanical properties of both copolymers are promising and the materials could find application in the packaging industry.

Poly-(3-hydroxy-co-4-hydroxybutyrate), tensile test

POSPÍŠILOVÁ, A.; VODIČKA, J.; WIKARSKÁ, M.; MENČÍK, P.; TRUDIČOVÁ, M.; SLANINOVÁ, E.; OBRUČA, S.; SEDLÁČEK, P.

23. 9. 2021

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https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/ebtj-2021-0031