Method for producing poly-3-hydroxyalkanoic acid

Abstract

When industrially separating and purifying poly-3-hydroxyalkanoic acid produced by a microorganism, to obtain poly-3-hydroxyalkanoic acid particles having an arbitrary volume mean particle diameter with favorable productivity and with decreased amount of an organic solvent used is enabled while decreasing contaminants derived from constitutive components of cellular bodies. According to the present invention, aggregated matter of poly-3-hydroxyalkanoic acid is obtained by adjusting the amount of organic nitrogen in an aqueous suspension containing poly-3-hydroxyalkanoic acid to not greater than 1,500 ppm per weight of poly-3-hydroxyalkanoic acid; and thereafter allowing poly-3-hydroxyalkanoic acid to be aggregated in the aqueous suspension.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.