Abstract:
Conventional plastics are difficult to degrade and can pollute the environment.
Therefore, another alternative to replace conventional plastic is needed by using
bioplastics which are more biodegradable. The purpose of this study was to obtain
potential bacterial isolates to produce Polihidroksi Alkanoat (PHA) as a bioplastic
feedstock from peat soil and landfills in Riau. PHA producing bacteria were isolated
using Nutrient Agar medium with the spread method. PHA producing bacteria were
selected using Sudan Black dye and indicated with blackish blue. The selected
bacterial isolates were cultured on mineral salt medium for the production of PHA
and the resulting PHA was extracted using chloroform. A total of 43 from 182
bacterial isolates obtained from four sampling locations were able to produce PHA.
The reselection results showed that 16 of the isolates showed consistency in their
ability to produce PHA which was indicated by the absorption of sudan black staining
by the bacterial colony. Cell dry weight of the selected isolates ranged from 0.03-2.20
g/L, dry weight of PHA ranged from 0.03-0.43 g/L, biomass residues ranged from
0.16 to 2.17 g/L, and PHA accumulation ranged from 1.17% -63%. The highest PHA
accumulation was produced by TPAS2.1 isolates obtained from landfills and the
lowest by KB2.3 isolates from orchards.
