Structure characterization of polyhydroxyalkanoates produced from activated sludge in waste water treatment process

It is found that a number of microorganisms in activated sludge in the proc ess of waste water treatment can produce a variety of nomo- and co-poly-3- hydroxyalkanoates with a wide range of properties, which would be one of th e methods to low the cost of PHA, In this paper, the biosynthesis of polyhy droxyalkanoates (PHA) by mixed bacterium growth on waste water was studied. The chemical structure of PHA, isolated from activated sludge in waste wat er treatment process using sodium acetate as attachment carbon source, was analyzed by H-1 NMR spectroscopy and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, The PHA produced from activated sludge is a copolymer composed of 9 differe nt monomer units, 3-hydroxybutyrate, 4-hydroxypentanoate, 3-hydroxydodecano ate, 3-hydroxy-tetradecanoate. 3-hydroxy-9-hexadecenoate, 3-hydroxyhexadeca noate, 3-hydroxy-11-octadecenoate, 3-hydroxy-9-octadecenoate, 3-hydroxyocta decanoate.