Biodegradable polymers from whey

Cheese whey, the major by-product of cheese industry, is rich in lactose and can serve as a raw material for industrial production of PHA. Only few microorganisms are able to convert directly lactose into PHA, e.g. recombinant Escherichia coli harboring PHA biosynthesis genes. PHA production cost hampers its wide utilization but these bacteria can contribute for the reduction of the downstream process costs and complexity since they can disrupt and release the internal PHA granules, when in very high content (E. coli). The results obtained showed that recombinant E. coli has a good potential for PHA producing from cheese whey. On going research is focused on the optimization of PHA production by the selected E. coli strains.