Polyhydroxyalkanoate, the future of biodegradable plastics
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
Polyhydroxyalkanoates: bioplastics with a green agenda
Tajalli Keshavarz and Ipsita Roy
Production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) has been investigated for more than eighty years but recently a number of factors including increase in the price of crude oil and public awareness of the environmental issues have become a notable driving force for extended research on biopolymers. The versatility of PHAs has made them good candidates for the study of their potential in a variety of areas from biomedical/ medical fields to food, packaging, textile and household material. While production costs are still a drawback to wider usage of these biopolymers, their application as low volume high cost items is becoming a reality. The future trend is to focus on the development of more efficient and economical processes for PHA production, isolation, purification and improvement of PHA material properties.
Address
Applied Biotechnology Research Group, School of Life Sciences,
University of Westminster, United Kingdom
Corresponding author: Keshavarz, Tajalli
(T.Keshavarz@westminster.ac.uk) and
Current Opinion in Microbiology 2010, 13:321–326
This review comes from a themed issue on
Ecology and Industrial Microbiology
Edited by Erick Vandamme
Available online 12th March 2010
1369-5274/$ – see front matter
# 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
DOI 10.1016/j.mib.2010.02.006
This short review attempts to give a background on the polyhydroxyalkanoates, their variety, properties, versatility, applications and limitations.
History
For more than seventy years petroleum based plastics have been used in a variety of industrial and day-to-day applications owing to their versatility and durability
[1,2]. However, they bear negative attributes including recalcitrance to biodegradation [3], toxicity after incineration and massive waste accumulation into the landfills and the marine environment. In response
Polyhydroxyalkanoates: bioplastics with a green agenda
Tajalli Keshavarz and Ipsita Roy
Production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) has been investigated for more than eighty years but recently a number of factors including increase in the price of crude oil and public awareness of the environmental issues have become a notable driving force for extended research on biopolymers. The versatility of PHAs has made them good candidates for the study of their potential in a variety of areas from biomedical/ medical fields to food, packaging, textile and household material. While production costs are still a drawback to wider usage of these biopolymers, their application as low volume high cost items is becoming a reality. The future trend is to focus on the development of more efficient and economical processes for PHA production, isolation, purification and improvement of PHA material properties.
Address
Applied Biotechnology Research Group, School of Life Sciences,
University of Westminster, United Kingdom
Corresponding author: Keshavarz, Tajalli
(T.Keshavarz@westminster.ac.uk) and
Current Opinion in Microbiology 2010, 13:321–326
This review comes from a themed issue on
Ecology and Industrial Microbiology
Edited by Erick Vandamme
Available online 12th March 2010
1369-5274/$ – see front matter
# 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
DOI 10.1016/j.mib.2010.02.006
This short review attempts to give a background on the polyhydroxyalkanoates, their variety, properties, versatility, applications and limitations.
History
For more than seventy years petroleum based plastics have been used in a variety of industrial and day-to-day applications owing to their versatility and durability
[1,2]. However, they bear negative attributes including recalcitrance to biodegradation [3], toxicity after incineration and massive waste accumulation into the landfills and the marine environment. In response