Process Analysis and Economic Evaluation for the Production of Enantiomerically Pure (R)-3-Hydroxybutyrate by Degradation of Bacterial Poly(3-Hydroxybutyrate)

摘要

Processes for the production of enantiomerically pure (R)-3-hydroxybutyrate (R3HB) by degradation of bacterial poly[(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate] (PHB) were analyzed by computer-aided process design.In this study,we have evaluated and economically compared process designs and processes for two different degradation methods which are chemical acidic-meth-anolysis and biological in vivo depolymerization.In the acidic methanolysis process by chemical reaction,the amount of organic solvent and productivity significantly affected the final price of R3HB.The condition for chemical process was dependent on the purification method of PHB from cells.For the annual production of 1,000 tonnes of R3HB,the process employing chemical methanolysis resulted in the production cost of us16.9/Kg R3HB.But,at the same scale,the process involving in vivo depolymerization can provide the most economical production of R3HB,us 8.7/Kg.This study should show R3HB could be economically produced from bacterial PHB by in vivo depolymerization.