Concomitant production of value-added products with polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) synthesis: A review

The concern over the damaging effects of petrochemical plastics has inspired innumerable researchers to synthesize green plastics. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are promising candidates as they are biodegradable and possess characteristics similar to conventional plastics. However, their large-scale production and market application still have a long way to go due to the high production cost associated. Approaches like using industrial wastes as substrates and developing green strategies for PHA extraction during downstream processing have been investigated to make the process more economical. Recently, PHA production cost was minimized by concomitant synthesis of other valuable bioproducts with PHA. Investigating these co-products and recovering them can also make the process circular bioeconomic. Therefore, the paper attempts to review the recent strategies for the simultaneous synthesis of value-added bioproducts with PHA together with the challenges and opportunities for their large-scale production and applications.

Automated summary

The concern over the damaging effects of petrochemical plastics has led to the research and development of green plastics like Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), which are biodegradable and possess characteristics similar to conventional plastics. However, challenges remain in the large-scale production and market application of PHAs due to high production costs. Strategies such as using industrial wastes as substrates and developing green extraction methods have been explored to make the production process more economical, alongside the concurrent synthesis of valuable bioproducts with PHA to minimize costs and establish a circular bioeconomic process.