TAISEI CORPORATION

URL: http://www.taisei.co.jp/

Summary

Taisei Corporation, primarily a building construction and engineering company, had $13.2 billion in sales in 1993. The biotechnology team of Taisei was formed seven years ago and is divided into two groups: plants and bioreactors. The plant group is currently working on turf grass and salt tolerance of rice for sea water irrigation. The bioreactor group is currently working on developing bioreactors for wastewater treatment/purification.

Highlights

• The Taisei Corporation, which is a building construction and engineering company, is working on a recovery system for production of microbially-produced polyester from wastewater treatment facilities. Poly(beta-hydroxybutyrate), or PHB, was accumulated in amounts up to 27% by weight by batch culture under anaerobic conditions utilizing thermochemically liquefied sludge.

• Taisei's system is being scaled up to a semibatch culture to produce PHB using activated sludge and excess sludge as carbon sources at wastewater treatment facilities.