Advances in Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) Production, Volume 2

Abstract

During the two years that have passed since the first volume of “Advances in Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production” was published, the progress in PHA-related research was indeed tremendous, calling for the next, highly bioprocess- and bioengineering-oriented volume. This editorial paper summarizes and puts into context the contributions to this second volume of the Bioengineering Special Issue; it covers highly topical fields of PHA-related R&D activities, covering, beside the pronounced bioengineering-related articles, the fields of the microbiology of underexplored, but probably emerging, PHA production strains from the groups of Pseudomonas, cyanobacteria, methanotrophs, and from the extremophilic domain of haloarchaea. Moreover, novel second-generation lignocellulose feedstocks for PHA production from agriculture to be used in biorefinery concepts, new approaches for fine-tuning the composition of PHA co- and terpolyesters, process simulation for PHA production from methane-rich natural gas, the challenges associated with rheology-governed oxygen transfer in high cell density cultivations, rapid spectroscopic in-line analytics for process monitoring, and the biomedical application of PHA biopolyesters after appropriate advanced processing are the subjects of the presented studies.

Biosynthesis of Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) by the Valorization of Biomass and Synthetic Waste

“…Some recent novel strains of Stenotrophomonas sp., Xanthomonas sp., Staphylococcus sp. and Haloarchaea bacteria [ 12 ] are a few more examples of such bacteria [ 13 ].…”

A novel sustainable PHA downstream method

“…, polyethylene, polypropylene, and ethylene terephthalate) not only due to their mechanical and thermal properties, but also their astonishing chemical characteristics, namely biocompatibility and biodegradability. 2,6,7…”

“…a chemical plastics (e.g., polyethylene, polypropylene, and ethylene terephthalate) not only due to their mechanical and thermal properties, but also their astonishing chemical characteristics, namely biocompatibility and biodegradability. 2,6,7 According to the directive (EU) 2019/904 of the European Parliament and the Council of 5 June 2019, global bioplastics manufacturing is increasing. 8 Furthermore, we have witnessed an exponential growth in the number of relevant studies with promising findings regarding PHA production and its pertinent applications.…”

Structure–Property Relationship in Melt-Spun Poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hexanoate) Monofilaments

“…Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) have attracted great interest because of their processability, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. PHAs are biologically derived thermoplastic polyesters produced by various microorganisms [ 1 , 2 ]. Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) is typically abbreviated as P(3HB-co-3HH) or simply PHBH and is produced by microorganisms under fermentation conditions using plant oils.…”