{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T01:45:56Z","timestamp":1760147156991,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,12]],"date-time":"2023-01-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1673481600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001871","name":"Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["PTDC\/BII-BIO\/5626\/2020","UIDB\/05256\/2020","UIDP\/05256\/2020","CEECINST\/00156\/2018"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PTDC\/BII-BIO\/5626\/2020","UIDB\/05256\/2020","UIDP\/05256\/2020","CEECINST\/00156\/2018"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001871","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Molecules"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are natural polyesters which biodegrade in soils and oceans but have more than double the cost of comparable oil-based polymers. PHA downstreaming from its biomass represents 50% of its overall cost. Here, in an attempt to assist downstreaming, mastication of wet biomasses is tested as a new mechanical continuous biomass pretreatment with potential for industrial upscaling. Downstreaming conditions where both product recovery and purity are low due to the large amount of treated wet biomass (50% water) were targeted with the following process: extraction of 20 g in 100 mL solvent at 30 \u00b0C for 2 h, followed by 4.8 h digestion of 20 g in 0.3 M NaOH. Under the studied conditions, NaOH digestion was more effective than solvent extraction in recovering larger PHA amounts, but with less purity. A nearly 50% loss of PHA was seen during digestion after mastication. PHAs downstreamed by digestion with large amounts of impurities started to degrade at lower temperatures, but their melt elasticity was thermally stable at 170 \u00b0C. As such, these materials are attractive as fully PHA-compatible processing aids, reinforcing fillers or viscosity modifiers. On the other hand, wet biomass mastication before solvent extraction improves PHA purity and thermal stability as well as the melt rheology, which recovers the viscoelasticity measured with a PHA extracted from a dried biomass.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules28020767","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,12]],"date-time":"2023-01-12T05:03:03Z","timestamp":1673499783000},"page":"767","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Can Biomass Mastication Assist the Downstreaming of Polyhydroxyalkanoates Produced from Mixed Microbial Cultures?"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"28","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2619-6892","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hil\u00e9ia K.S.","family":"Souza","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Polymers and Composites, Campus de Azur\u00e9m, University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimar\u00e3es, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4076-2459","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mariana","family":"Matos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Associate Laboratory i4HB\u2013Institute for Health and Bioeconomy, NOVA School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal"},{"name":"UCIBIO\u2014REQUIMTE, Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit, Department of Chemistry, NOVA School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4000-1836","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maria A.M.","family":"Reis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Associate Laboratory i4HB\u2013Institute for Health and Bioeconomy, NOVA School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal"},{"name":"UCIBIO\u2014REQUIMTE, Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit, Department of Chemistry, NOVA School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0790-5801","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jos\u00e9 A.","family":"Covas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Polymers and Composites, Campus de Azur\u00e9m, University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimar\u00e3es, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9936-8088","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lo\u00efc","family":"Hilliou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Polymers and Composites, Campus de Azur\u00e9m, University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimar\u00e3es, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"620","DOI":"10.3144\/expresspolymlett.2011.60","article-title":"Isolation and recovery of microbial polyhydroxyalkanoates","volume":"5","author":"Kunasundari","year":"2011","journal-title":"Express Polym. 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