On April 25, 2023, Matteo Castiello successfully defended his thesis entitled “Production of P(3HB-co-3HV) in an open two-stage continuous reactor: influence of the carbon source on microbial selection and accumulation of the biopolymer”. This thesis was carried out within the TBI Laboratory at INSA Toulouse and within the framework of the ANR LOOP4PACK.
The jury was composed of the two reviewers, Patrick DABERT (OPAALE, Rennes) and Catherine BEAL (AgroParisTech, Palaiseau), three examiners Nicolas BERNET (LBE, Narbonne) also president of the jury, Estelle GROUSSEAU (IATE, Montpellier) and Yoan PECHAUD (UGE, Champs -sur-Marne), a guest Laëtitia CAVAILLE (from the company SAPOVAL, Albi) and the two thesis directors Etienne PAUL (TBI, Toulouse) and Claire DUMAS (TBI, Toulouse).
In the allotted time, Matteo had the opportunity to present the highlights of his thesis work, namely:
1/ the influence of the nature of the carbon source and the degree of phosphorus limitation, on the one hand on the direction of substrate consumption between growth, PHA production and maintenance, and on the other hand, on the microbial selection between overproducing species and poor producing species.
2/ The impact of the operating conditions of a two-stage continuous reactor on the production of the copolymer P(3HB-co-3HV).
3/ The performance of the two-stage continuous reactor in terms of productivity, conversion efficiency, process stability and quality of the product obtained.
The presentation was followed by a rich two-hour discussion which made it possible to identify relevant perspectives on the use of mixed culture for the production of P(3HB-co-3HV) in a context of valorization of waste and organic residues.
