The main characteristics, properties, improvements and market data of Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs).

ELODIE BUGNICOURT; CINELLI PATRIZIA; ANDREA LAZZERI; VERA ALVAREZ

Handbook of Sustainable Polymers: Structure and Chemistry.

CRC Press

Año: 2014; p. 228 - 247

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biogenic polyesters with a high potential to replace fossil fuel-based thermoplastics due to their high versatility and biodegradability in different environments. PHAs are generally obtained with pure microbial cultures grown on renewable feedstocks (i.e. sugar or oils) under sterile conditions but recent research studies also showed the feasibility of using wastes as growth media. PHA can be extracted from the bacteria cell and then formulated and processed by number of conversion thechnologies as rigid and flexible plastics. Blending, additivation and use of nanofillers are often used to improve PHAs? properties. With an increasing production capacity, PHAs are commercialised by several companies worldwide at different scales. Current PHAs? applications include packaging, medical paper coatings, non-woven fabrics, adhesives, films and performance additives. The present chapter reviews the different classes of PHAs, their main properties, processing aspects, commercially available ones, as well as limitations and related improvements being researched related with the production nanocomposites to improve the final properties, as well as selected applications.