ADVANCES IN POLYHYDROXYALKANOATE (PHA) PRODUCTION - Tecno-Libro

Currently, we are witnessing highly dynamic research efforts related to the exciting field of novel biodegradable plastic-like materials. These activities originate from a growing public awareness of prevailing ecological problems associated to, e.g., rising piles of plastic waste, increasing greenhouse gas emissions, and ongoing depletion of such fossil resources usually used for the synthesis of ?full carbon backbone? plastics. Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biopolyesters, a family of versatile plastic-like materials produced by living microbes, are a future-oriented alternative to traditional plastics. If accomplished in an optimized way, production and the entire lifecycle of PHA are embedded into nature?s closed carbon cycle, which is underlined by PHA?s main benefits of being ?biobased?, ?biosynthesized?, ?biocompatible?, and ?biodegradable?.Sustainable and economically feasible PHA synthesis, especially on an industrially relevant scale, requires all production steps to be understood and improved. Among other aspects, this calls for new powerful production strains to be screened; knowledge about the prote