ABSTRACT
In recent years, the petroleum-based plastic pollution problem has been causing global attention. The idea of "degradation and up-cycling of plastics" was proposed for solving the environmental pollution caused by non-degradable plastics. Following this idea, plastics would be firstly degraded and then reconstructed. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) can be produced from the degraded plastic monomers as a choice to recycle among various plastics. PHA, a family of biopolyesters synthesized by many microbes, have attracted great interest in industrial, agricultural and medical sectors due to its biodegradability, biocompatibility, thermoplasticity and carbon neutrality. Moreover, the regulations on PHA monomer compositions, processing technology, and modification methods may further improve the material properties, making PHA a promising alternative to traditional plastics. Furthermore, the application of the "next-generation industrial biotechnology (NGIB)" utilizing extremophiles for PHA production is expected to enhance the PHA market competitiveness, promoting this environmentally friendly bio-based material to partially replace petroleum-based products, and achieve sustainable development with carbon-neutrality. This review summarizes the basic material properties, plastic upcycling via PHA biosynthesis, processing and modification methods of PHA, and biosynthesis of novel PHA.
Subject(s)
Polyhydroxyalkanoates , Plastics , Biotechnology , Petroleum , CarbonABSTRACT
Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) is a family of biodegradable polyesters synthesized by microorganisms. It has various monomer structures and physical properties with broad application prospects. However, its large-scale production is still hindered by the high cost. In the past 30 years, metabolic engineering approach has been used to tune the metabolic flux, engineer and introduce pathways. The efficiency of PHA synthesis by microorganisms has been significantly improved, and the diversity of PHA monomer, structure and substrate have also been enriched. Meanwhile, by changing cell morphology and PHA particle size, more efficient downstream production process has achieved and PHA production costs have been reduced. In recent years, "Next generation industrial biotechnology" (NGIB) based on extremophiles, especially halophilic Halomonas spp., has been rapidly developed. NGIB has achieved the opening and continuous production of PHA, which simplifies the production process and saves energy and fresh water. Combined with metabolic engineering, Halomonas spp. can be transformed into low-cost production platform of numerous PHA. It is expected to improve the market competitiveness and promote the commercialization of PHA.