Polyhydroxyalkanoate: a biodegradable polymer (a mini review)
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Abstract
Description
The current synthetic plastic menace has driven researchers to sort sustainable
alternatives. Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) has been proven to be sustainable,
biodegradable, biocompatible and hence could serve as suitable alternative.
PHAs are biodegradable polyester produced by microorganisms that can be
produced from renewable substrates such as starch and plant oils. These biopolyesters
are accumulated in the intracellular granules and serve as carbon
reserve for bacteria. Current studies show that there exists about 150 different
monomers of PHA with shared properties similar to synthetic plastics which
makes their application wide. This review is focused on giving a background
study on polyhydroxyalkanoate, with special considerations on their
physicochemical properties, its applications, the pathways that leads to its
synthesis and the various applications.
Keywords
Q Science (General), QH Natural history