Optimization and characterization of bioplastic produced by Bacillus cereus SE1

Abstract

Bioplastics can be defined as plastics made of biomass such as corn, sugarcane etc. These substances have been increasingly spotlighted as means to saving fossil fuels, reducing CO2 emission and plastic wastes. Biodegradability of Bioplastics has been widely publicized in society and the demand for packaging is rapidly increasing among retailers and the food industry at large scale. The plastic which is available in market is very dangerous as it is non-biodegradable. Therefore, it is the demand of the day that biodegradable plastics should be produced and used. The present review highlights all these points regarding the applications, production, types, challenges, sustainability, fermentation, process development and use of cheap substrates for bioplastics production. The bacterial isolate Bacillus cereus SE-1 was found to possess a higher level of PHB production in presence of various carbon sources used. However, a higher level of production was obtained with maltose (5.63 g/l) and a lower production was obtained when dextrose (0.4 g/l) was used as sole carbon source. FTIR analysis reveals that, the extracted PHB possesses the same pattern of functional groups as that of the standard PHB i.e. the characteristics presence of –OH and –C=O stretching. In order to increase the potential use of the extracted PHB, it was blended with thermoplastic starch under experimental conditions. After blending, the crystalline nature of the product was highly increased as the diffraction patterns were observed at 2è values of 26.80°, 31.74°, 45.59°, and 56.22°. Thus, the bacterial mediated PHB synthesis can be used as a better alternative to deal with the currently available practices of plastic use and its gradually increasing pollution level.