Evaluation of the properties of the polymer polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) extracted from Zophobas morio Fabricius worms

Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) is an intracellularly produced biopolymer accumulated as an energy reserve by many microorganisms, being the main producer the bacterium Cupriavidus necator. Therefore, it is necessary to extract intracellular granules from the inside of cells. PHB chemical extraction with chloroform and sodium hypochlorite is efficient, but high amounts of chloroform, toxic and volatile solvent are used. Thus, it is necessary to study new technologies for the extraction of PHB, seeking to make the process technologically, since this biopolymer is an important candidate for polypropylene replacement (PP). In this context, this study aimed to evaluate the PHB extraction process from larvae Zophobas morio Fabricius. PHB was synthesized by the bacterium Cupriavidus necator in Erlenmeyer flascks with 300 mL of mineral medium containing glucose and fructose as carbon sources. The culture was conducted for 24 h at 30 °C and 150 rpm. Biomass obtained from cultives was submitted to chemical extraction (dispersion chloroform/sodium hypochlorite) and biological, and for this, used in a mixture 2:1 (m/m) of the wheat meal with cells containing PHB as a feeding source of the larvae of Zophobas morio Fabricius. PHB obtained by the two recovery processes were characterized by thermogravimetry (TG), exploratory differential calorimetry (DSC), infrared spectroscopy with Fourier transform - total attenuated reflection (FTIR/ATR), Xray diffractometry (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was found that the sample extracted by the biological method (PHB_EB) , when compared with the sample extracted by the chemical method (PHB_EQ), presented the same chemical structure, and that the biological methodology using larvae was faster and more efficient, guaranteeing the extraction PHB with high purity and thermal stability, with reduced amount of solvent, making this process more environmentally friendly. (author)