Kanegafuchi Kagaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Kaneka Corporation

Takeshi Shiotani

Wataru Okada

Genta Kobayashi

Hideki Fukuda

Hiroaki Yamauchi

Satoshi Imai

Toshimitsu Nakashima

Susumu Kyotani

Yoshimitsu Mekata

A laminate including a base material and a copolymer consisting essentially of 3-hydroxybutyrate and 3-hydroxyhexanoate, the copolymer being laminated on at least one side of the base material. A wrapping material including the above laminate. A container made of the above laminate.

Biodegradable laminate

The present invention is directed to a copolymer containing a 3-hydroxybutyrate (3HB) unit and a 3-hydroxyhexanoate (3HHx) unit, a three-component copolymer containing at least a 3-hydroxybutyrate (3HB) unit and a 3-hydroxyhexanoate (3HHx) unit, and a four-component copolymer containing at least a 3-hydroxybutyrate (3HB) unit and a 3-hydroxyhexanoate (3HHx) unit. The use of a microorganism of the genus Aeromonas according to the present invention makes it possible to produce a wide variety of plastic materials ranging from rigid plastics to elastic plastics by selecting copolymer components and adjusting their composition.

Copolymer and method for production thereof

The present invention is directed to a copolymer containing a unit represented by Formula (1): ##STR1## wherein Y represents a hydrocarbon residue having 1 to 13 carbon atoms which may have 1 to 4 double bonds. A method for production thereof comprises the steps of culturing microorganisms of the genus Pseudomonas under limitation of nutrients other than carbon sources using a medium containing long-chain fatty acids having 14 to 22 carbon atoms or lower alcohol esters thereof, or triglycerides comprising long-chain fatty acids having 14 to 22 carbon atoms as carbon sources; washing the bacterial cells after completion of cultivation; extracting the bacterial cells; and recovering a polyester from the extracts.

Polymer and method for production thereof

A process of an interesterification reaction of fats, wherein a fatty acid moiety of a glyceride is substituted by other fatty acid moiety, and the reaction is accelerated by a catalyst and is continued constantly at a high rate for a long time. The process uses a dry cell for a catalyst. The dry cell is prepared from a lipase-containing microorganism by cultivating it to increase a lipase content and drying it to control water content.

Interestification of fats

A nutrient solution of a microorganism to be supplied to a fermentor or a culture broth in the fermentor is aseptically filtered by a porous filter medium made of polytetrafluoroethylene polymer and having properties impervious to microorganism, resistant to heat and chemicals, and hydrophilic, wherein said hydrophilic property was given to the surface of said filter medium with a treatment for hydrophilicity. This treatment comprises treating polytetrafluoroethylene porous polymer as a raw material for the filter medium with surface treating agent comprising an alkali metal naphthalene and diamine and immersing the treated polymer into concentrated sulfuric acid containing an aliphatic or aromatic aldehyde dissolved therein in a concentration exceeding half saturation.

Method and apparatus for aseptic filtration

Apparatus for cultivating aerobic microorganisms is provided which comprises cell multiplying compartment and cell ripening compartment. The invention also provides a cultivation process using the same apparatus. The invention improves oxygen transfer rate and utilization of oxygen, thus enabling cultivation at a higher concentration of microorganisms as compared with any conventional process.

Growing community of inventors

Kakogawa, Japan

Takeshi Shiotani