Integrated Biorefinery Design with Techno-Economic and Life Cycle Assessment Tools in Polyhydroxyalkanoates Processing

To support and move toward a sustainable bioeconomy, the production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) using renewable biomass has acquired more attention. However, expensive biomass pretreatment and low yield of PHAs pose significant disadvantages in its large-scale production. To overcome such limitations, the most recent advances in metabolic engineering strategies used to develop high-performance strains that are leading to a new manufacturing concept converting biomass to PHAs with co-products such as amino acids, proteins, biohydrogen, biosurfactants, and various fine chemicals are critically summarized. This review article presents a comprehensive roadmap that highlights the integrated biorefinery strategies, lifecycle analysis, and techno-economic assessment for sustainable and economic PHAs production. Finally, current and future challenges that must be addressed to transfer this technology to real-world applications are reviewed.

Automated summary

To support sustainable bioeconomy, there is increased focus on producing polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) using renewable biomass. However, challenges such as expensive biomass pretreatment and low PHA yield in large-scale production must be overcome. This review article critically summarizes the latest advances in metabolic engineering strategies that develop high-performance strains converting biomass to PHAs with co-products, and outlines a roadmap for integrated biorefinery strategies and economic assessment of sustainable PHA production. Current and future challenges in transferring this technology to real-world applications are also discussed.