Recovery and characterization of poly(3-Hydroxybutyric acid) synthesized in Staphylococcus epidermidis

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are biodegradable polyesters accumulated intracellularly as energy resources by bacterial species. In this study, fermentation process for production of PHA is carried out using sesame oil as carbon source. We studied recovery of poly(3-hydroxybutyric acid) (PHB) from Staphylococcus epidermidis by sodium hypochlorite digestion method. Recovered PHB sample was estimated by UV spectrophotometer. PHB from S. epidermidis was characterized and by these findings, we examined purified PHB by differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), a thermo gravimetric analyzer (TGA), thin layer chromatography (TLC) and infrared spectroscopy (IR). The results of our analysis of PHB while comparing with commercial source suggest that in DSC melting temperature of PHB was 173.36°C, TGA thermo grams of PHB sample was at 296.91°C, on TLC plate; Rf value was calculated as 0.71 and finally IR spectrum of the compounds showed characteristics bands for the groups CH, C=O and C-O, indicating the presence of PHB in the production medium.