Exploring the Polyhydroxyalkanoates: Bioplastic for a Green Tomorrow

Abstract

Conventional plastics, though a necessity in modern society, come with significant disadvantages due to the non-biodegradability, health risks, resource depletion, limited recycling and limited thermal resistance, ultimately effecting a wide range of life forms on earth. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are a family of polyesters that serve as an efficient alternative for conventional plastics. PHAs are hydroxy fatty acids polyesters, water insoluble, storage granules produced intra-cellular by a variety of bacteria under stress. They offer several advantages including biodegradability and biocompatibility, non-toxic nature and versatile properties. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) exhibit diverse properties that make them highly valuable across various industries, including material packaging, biofuel production, fine chemical synthesis, agriculture, and animal feed. In the medical field, PHAs hold significant potential in applications such as neuronal regeneration, bioimplant patches, drug delivery systems, and cardiovascular therapies. Currently, PHAs are produced industrially via fermentation, but scalability remains constrained by high production costs. But recent advances in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering have provided a new potential to increase production efficiency. Mixed microbial culture (MMC) also reduces the cost by utilizing wide range of waste without the need of strict sterilization condition. Overall, PHAs are a big step towards sustainable materials that can reduce the detrimental effects of conventional plastic waste.