Method for producing poly-3-hydroxyalkanoic acid and agglomerates thereof
AssigneeKaneka Corporation
InventorsMasaki Takita, Yoshifumi Yanagita
Life of this patent
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Abstract
When industrially separating and purifying poly-3-hydroxyalkanoic acid produced by a microorganism, to obtain poly-3-hydroxyalkanoic acid agglomerates 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, agglomerates of poly-3-hydroxyalkanoic acid are obtained by adjusting the pH of an aqueous poly-3-hydroxyalkanoic acid suspension to fall within an acidic region.
Claims11
A method for producing poly-3-hydroxyalkanoic acid agglomerates, the method comprising
- culturing a microorganism having an ability to intracellularly produce poly-3-hydroxyalkanoic acid;
- disrupting said microorganism by a physical treatment, a chemical treatment and/or a biological treatment;
- purifying poly-3-hydroxyalkanoic acid by degradation and/or removal of impurities after disrupting said microorganism to obtain an aqueous poly-3-hydroxyalkanoic acid suspension having an amount of organic nitrogen of not greater than 6,000 ppm per weight of the poly-3-hydroxyalkanoic acid,
- allowing poly-3-hydroxyalkanoic acid to be aggregated by adjusting the pH of the aqueous poly-3-hydroxyalkanoic acid suspension to fall within an acidic region after purifying poly-3-hydroxyalkanoic acid by degradation and/or removal of impurities to obtain poly-3-hydroxyalkanoic acid agglomerates.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.