Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) production by halophilic mixed consortia draws a lot of attention because of its great advantages

such as no sterilization

extraction convenience and high production. In this study

halophilic mixed microbial cultures were used to investigate the influence of adjusting modes of the organic loading rate on PHB production. Two adjusting modes were applied including adjusting sludge concentration with a consistent substrate concentration and substrate concentration with a consistent sludge concentration. The maximum PHB content in cells

maximum PHB volumetric yield and kinetics were compared to confirm the optimum OLR and the key difference in the two modes. The experimental results showed that the high OLR led to a high PHB content in cells and a high PHB volumetric yield. In this study

0.91 kg ·(kg ·d)-1 was proved to be the optimum OLR for halophilic MMCs. On condition of identical OLR

the high sludge concentration led to high carbon source conversion ratio and substrate consumption rate. Then

a high sludge concentration can enhance PHB productivity and depress PHB production cost.