title: Microbial production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) and its copolymers: A review of recent advancements.
abstract: Traditional mineral oil based plastics are important commodity to enhance the comfort and quality of life but the accumulation of these plastics in the environment has become a major universal problem due to their low biodegradation. Solution to the plastic waste management includes incineration, recycling and landfill disposal methods. These processes are very time consuming and expensive. Biopolymers are important alternatives to the petroleum-based plastics due to environment friendly manufacturing processes, biodegradability and biocompatibility. Therefore use of novel biopolymers, such as polylactide, polysaccharides, aliphatic polyesters and polyhydroxyalkanoates is of interest. PHAs are biodegradable polyesters of hydroxyalkanoates (HA) produced from renewable resources by using microorganisms as intracellular carbon and energy storage compounds. Even though PHAs are promising candidate for biodegradable polymers, however, the production cost limit their application on an industrial scale. This article provides an overview of various substrates, microorganisms for the economical production of PHAs and its copolymers. Recent advances in PHAs to reduce the cost and to improve the performance of PHAs have also been discussed.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, Government College University, Faisalabad 38030, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Anbreen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Anjum
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, Government College University, Faisalabad 38030, Pakistan. Electronic address: mohammadzuber@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zuber
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, Government College University, Faisalabad 38030, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Khalid Mahmood
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Zia
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, Government College University, Faisalabad 38030, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Aqdas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Noreen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, Government College University, Faisalabad 38030, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Muhammad Naveed
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Anjum
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, Government College University, Faisalabad 38030, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Shazia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tabasum
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism*; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000494:pharmacology; D001704:Biopolymers / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D007221:Industry; D053761:Nanocomposites / Q000737:chemistry; D054813:Polyhydroxyalkanoates / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D001704:Biopolymers; D054813:Polyhydroxyalkanoates
keywords: Biodegradable polymers; Economical production; Industrial applications; Polyhydoxyalkanoates; Recent advances