Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs): Separation, Purification and Manufacturing Methods

Abstract

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) function to provide bacteria with resistance. PHAs with diverse structures have been developed for various applications including fermentation, materials, packaging, biomedicals, and biofuels. The most critical problem for commercial PHA production is the cost. For many years, recombinant bacteria have been constructed to produce various PHAs with various structures, monomer ratios, and molecular weights for the sake of lowering PHA production costs and improving PHA properties. In the future, we should develop continuous fermentation processes without sterilization, based on simple substrates. In addition, aqueous processes for PHA purification should be developed to further reduce the PHA production costs.

Effect of 3-Hydroxyvalerate Content on Thermal, Mechanical, and Rheological Properties of Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) Biopolymers Produced from Fermented Dairy Manure

“…Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are natural polyesters of hydroxyalkanoate (HA) building blocks that are produced and accumulated intracellularly by numerous bacteria as an energy reserve material in the presence of excess carbon source and/or under limited nutritional conditions [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. PHAs are biodegradable bioplastics and have mechanical properties similar to those of conventional thermoplastics, such as polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), and are alternates for petroleum-derived polymers [ 1 , 6 , 7 ]. Poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) was the first known PHA and as a consequence the most extensively studied PHA [ 6 , 7 ].…”