This study focused on the characterization of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) produced from crude glycerol (CG) using mixed microbial consortia (MMC). PHB recovered from two biomass drying treatments (65 degrees C oven drying and lyophilization) was characterized comparatively along with a commercially sourced PHB (PHB-C). Characterization results showed that oven-drying method caused PHB partial hydrolysis, as indicated by its lower molecular weight (Mw) (PHB-O, 144,000 g mol1), which further affected its physical and chemical properties. Lyophilization helped alleviate PHB hydrolysis during drying process, leading to PHB (PHB-L) of higher Mw (309,000 g mol1) and material properties comparable with commercial PHB. Furthermore, crystallization and morphological studies showed that PHB-L featured faster crystallization rates and smaller spherulites as compared with PHB-C, probably due to its lower Mw. In general, the results from this study suggested that CG-MMC-derived PHB-L possessed material properties comparable with those of pure substrate/culture produced PHB. (c) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013