title: Perspectives on the production of polyhydroxyalkanoates in biorefineries associated with the production of sugar and ethanol.
abstract: Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are biodegradable and biocompatible bacterial thermoplastic polymers that can be obtained from renewable resources. The high impact of the carbon source in the final cost of this polymer has been one of the major limiting factors for PHA production and agricultural residues, mainly lignocellulosic materials, have gained attention to overcome this problem. In Brazil, production of 2nd generation ethanol from the glucose fraction, derived from sugarcane bagasse hydrolysate has been studied. The huge amounts of remaining xylose will create an opportunity for the development of other bioprocesses, generating new products to be introduced into a biorefinery model. Although PHA production from sucrose integrated to a 1G ethanol and sugar mill has been proposed in the past, the integration of the process of 2G ethanol in the context of a biorefinery will provide enormous amounts of xylose, which could be applied to produce PHA, establishing a second-generation of PHA production process. Those aspects and perspectives are presented in this article.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, Av. Prof. Lineu Prestes, 1374, 05508-000 São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Electronic address: lukneif@usp.br.
authors.forename: Luiziana Ferreira
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, Av. Prof. Lineu Prestes, 1374, 05508-000 São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Electronic address: mktaciro@usp.br.
authors.forename: Marilda Keico
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Taciro
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, Av. Prof. Lineu Prestes, 1374, 05508-000 São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Electronic address: gil.usp@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Gil
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Raicher
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnológicas do Estado de São Paulo S.A., IPT, Av. Prof. Almeida Prado, 532, 05508-901 Brazil. Electronic address: rpiccoli@ipt.br.
authors.forename: Rosane Aparecida Moniz
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Piccoli
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, Av. Prof. Lineu Prestes, 1374, 05508-000 São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Electronic address: thatianemendonca@usp.br.
authors.forename: Thatiane Teixeira
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Mendonça
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, Av. Prof. Lineu Prestes, 1374, 05508-000 São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Electronic address: mateus.lopes@braskem.com.
authors.forename: Mateus Schreiner Garcez
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Lopes
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, Av. Prof. Lineu Prestes, 1374, 05508-000 São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Electronic address: jgcgomez@usp.br.
authors.forename: José Gregório Cabrera
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Gomez
mesh_terms: D001709:Biotechnology; D002241:Carbohydrates / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D000431:Ethanol; D005285:Fermentation; D054813:Polyhydroxyalkanoates / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D002241:Carbohydrates; D054813:Polyhydroxyalkanoates; D000431:Ethanol
keywords: Biorefineries; Hemicellulose; Pentoses; Polyhydroxyalkanoates; Sugarcane bagasse; Xylose