RT Journal Article T1 Production of PHB from Chicory Roots - Comparison of Three Cupriavidus necator Strains A1 Haas, C. A1 Steinwandter, V. A1 Diaz De Apodaca, E. A1 Maestro Madurga, B. A1 Smerilli, M. A1 Dietrich, T. A1 Neureiter, M. AB Chicory roots from hydroponic salad cultivation are an abundant food residue in Navarra (Spain) that are underutilized to date. Aiming at a holistic utilization of resources, we report here the first process using chicory root hydrolysate for the production of poly([R]-3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB). The polymer can be used for packaging material made for the locally produced vegetables. In the first step, we developed a pre-treatment process to obtain a hydrolysate, which contained 34 g L-1 sugars and 0.7 g L-1 total Kjeldahl nitrogen. This hydrolysate was used as fermentation substrate for three PHB-producing strains. Cupriavidus necator DSM 428 reached a dry biomass concentration of 11.3 g L-1 with a PHB content of 66 % in dry mass within 5 days. C. necator DSM 531 yielded 3.5 g L-1 dry biomass containing 46 % PHB within the same period. C. necator DSM 545 was superior over the other two in that 14.0 g L-1 of biomass containing 78 % PHB after only 3 days were obtained. These results show that even within the same species, the productivities on natural substrates are very different. The produced polymers were extracted using chloroform, and several thermo-physical parameters are in good accordance with published data. Overall, our holistic approach and the encouraging results prove that chicory roots are a viable fermentation substrate for PHB-production. YR 2015 FD 2015-06-03 LA eng NO Haas , C , Steinwandter , V , Diaz De Apodaca , E , Maestro Madurga , B , Smerilli , M , Dietrich , T & Neureiter , M 2015 , ' Production of PHB from Chicory Roots - Comparison of Three Cupriavidus necator Strains ' , unknown , vol. unknown , no. 2 , pp. 99-112 . https://doi.org/10.15255/CABEQ.2014.2250 DS TECNALIA Publications RD 3 jul 2024