The Handbook of Polyhydroxyalkanoates

This volume covers kinetics, bioengineering and industrial aspects and focusses on thermodynamic and mathematical considerations of PHA biosynthesis, bioengineering aspects regarding bioreactor design and downstream processing for PHA recovery from microbial biomass.

Martin Koller was awarded his PhD degree by Graz University of Technology, Austria, for his thesis on polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production from dairy surplus streams which was enabled by the EU-project WHEYPOL ("Dairy industry waste as source for sustainable polymeric material production"), supervised by Gerhart Braunegg, one of the most eminent PHA pioneers. As senior researcher, he worked on bio-mediated PHA production, encompassing development of continuous and discontinuous fermentation processes, and novel downstream processing techniques for sustainable PHA recovery. His research focused on cost-efficient PHA production from surplus materials by bacteria and haloarchaea and, to a minor extent, to the development for PHA for biomedical use. He currently holds more than 70 Web-of-science listed articles in high ranked scientific journals (h-index 23), authored twelve chapters in scientific books, edited three scientific books and four journal special issues on PHA, gave plenty of invited and plenary lectures at scientific conferences, and supports the editorial teams of several distinguished journals. Moreover, Martin Koller coordinated the EU-FP7 project ANIMPOL ("Biotechnological conversion of carbon containing wastes for eco-efficient production of high added value products"), which, in close cooperation between academia and industry, investigated the conversion of animal processing industry-s waste streams towards structurally diversified PHA and follow-up products. In addition to PHA exploration, he was also active in microalgal research and in biotechnological production of various marketable compounds from renewables by yeasts, chlorophyte, bacteria, archaea, fungi or lactobacilli. At the moment, Martin Koller is active as research manager and external supervisor for PHA-related projects.

1. An Introduction to the Thermodynamics Calculation of PHA Production in Microbes 2. Mathematical Modelling for Advanced PHA Biosynthesis. 3. Interconnection between PHA and Stress Robustness of Bacteria. 4. Linking Salinity to Microbial Biopolyesters Biosynthesis: Polyhydroxyalkanoate Production by Haloarchaea and Halophilic Eubacteria. 5. Role of Different Bioreactor Types and Feeding Regimes in Polyhydroxyalkanoates Production. 6. Recovery of Polyhydroxyalkanoates from Microbial Biomass. 7. Polyhydroxyalkanoates by Mixed Microbial Cultures: The Journey so Far and Challenges Ahead. 8. PHA Production by Microbial Mixed Cultures and Organic Waste of Urban Origin: Pilot Scale Evidences. 9. Production Quality Control of Mixed Culture Poly(3-Hydroxbutyrate-co-3-Hydroxyvalerate) Blends Using Full-Scale Municipal Activated Sludge and Non-Chlorinated Solvent Extraction. 10. Economics and Industrial Aspects of PHA Production. 11. Next Generation Industrial Biotechnology (NGIB) for PHA Production. 12. PHA Biosynthesis Starting from Sucrose and Materials from Sugar Industry. 13. LCA, Sustainability and Techno-economic Studies for PHA Production.