Production of polyhydroxyalkanoates from renewable resources: a review on prospects, challenges and applications

• Published in: Archives of microbiology Vol. 205; no. 5; p. 172
• Main Authors: Mahato, Richa Prasad, Kumar, Saurabh, Singh, Padma
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.05.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Bacteria; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Bioplastics; Biotechnology; Carbon; Carbon sources; Cell Biology; Commercialization; Composite materials; Ecology; Industrial applications; Industrial Waste; Industrial wastes; Information processing; Life Sciences; Management systems; Microbial Ecology; Microbiology; Mini Review; Nutrition; Optimization; Packaging; Petrochemicals; Plastics; Polyhydroxyalkanoates; Polymers; Renewable resources; Reproducibility of Results; Substitutes; Substrates; Sustainable yield; Waste management; Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA); Biodegradability; Applications of PHA; Upstream process; Petrochemical plastic; Biocompatibility; Downstream process
• ISSN: 0302-8933; 1432-072X
• DOI: 10.1007/s00203-023-03499-8

Bioplastics replace synthetic plastics of petrochemical origin, which contributes challenge to both polymer quality and economics. Novel polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA)-composite materials, with desirable product quality, could be developed, thus targeting the global plastics market, in the coming years. It is possible that PHA can be a greener substitute for their petroleum-based competitors since they are simply decomposed, which may lessen the pressure on municipal and industrial waste management systems. PHA production has proven to be the bottleneck in industrial application and commercialization because of the high price of carbon substrates and downstream processes required to achieve reliability. Bacterial PHA production by these municipal and industrial wastes, which act as a cheap, renewable carbon substrate, eliminates waste management hassles and acts as an efficient substitute for synthetic plastics. In the present review, challenges and opportunities related to the commercialization of polyhydroxyalkanoates are discussed and presented. Moreover, it discusses critical steps of their production process, feedstock evaluation, optimization strategies, and downstream processes. This information may provide us the complete utilization of bacterial PHA during possible applications in packaging, nutrition, medicine, and pharmaceuticals. Graphical abstract