Development of Polyhydroxyalkanoate
(PHA) and Its Copolymers as a Possible
“Cure” for the Plastic Pollution
3
Ramamoorthi Sivashankari and Takeharu Tsuge
Abstract
Plastic pollution is one of the growing critical global issues. The accumulation of
plastics in the environment mainly in marine is causing indeed a serious environmental issue. Indisputably, it will impact the environment enormously if this issue
is let to be continued with no proper solution. In order to come up with a potential
solution to curb this issue from growing, it is imperative to identify the main
“culprit” behind such occurrence. As per our knowledge, it is apparent that the
overuse of petroleum-based plastic (PBP) is one of the main causes of plastic
pollution. It is evident that PBP eases our day-to-day life due to their versatility
and lightweight. It is now being used in numerous packaging purposes such as
food, easy-to-carry bags, and so on. Therefore, imagining a life without it is
definitely hard, or to a certain extent is impossible too. Thus, having an alternative
which is similar to PBP and able to serve the same purpose as PBP is highly
effective to bring down the use of PBP and eventually the damages to the
environment prior to its dumping. Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) is one of the
best candidates to be proposed as a substitute for PBP. However, unlike PBP,
PHA is a bio-based polymer and thus leaves a less negative impact on the
environment. Therefore, it has garnered enormous attention worldwide to replace
PBP. This chapter will review recent progress on PHA, how it is being
biosynthesized, the emergence of new copolymers to improve the properties of
existing PHA, a detailed comparison on mechanical properties of PHA with PBP,
and other efforts being made to make it as a potential “cure” for the plastic
pollution.
R. Sivashankari · T. Tsuge (*)
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama,
Japan
e-mail: tsuge.t.aa@m.titech.ac.jp
# Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
R. Prasad (ed.), Environmental Pollution and Remediation, Environmental and
Microbial Biotechnology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5499-5_3
59
(PHA) and Its Copolymers as a Possible
“Cure” for the Plastic Pollution
3
Ramamoorthi Sivashankari and Takeharu Tsuge
Abstract
Plastic pollution is one of the growing critical global issues. The accumulation of
plastics in the environment mainly in marine is causing indeed a serious environmental issue. Indisputably, it will impact the environment enormously if this issue
is let to be continued with no proper solution. In order to come up with a potential
solution to curb this issue from growing, it is imperative to identify the main
“culprit” behind such occurrence. As per our knowledge, it is apparent that the
overuse of petroleum-based plastic (PBP) is one of the main causes of plastic
pollution. It is evident that PBP eases our day-to-day life due to their versatility
and lightweight. It is now being used in numerous packaging purposes such as
food, easy-to-carry bags, and so on. Therefore, imagining a life without it is
definitely hard, or to a certain extent is impossible too. Thus, having an alternative
which is similar to PBP and able to serve the same purpose as PBP is highly
effective to bring down the use of PBP and eventually the damages to the
environment prior to its dumping. Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) is one of the
best candidates to be proposed as a substitute for PBP. However, unlike PBP,
PHA is a bio-based polymer and thus leaves a less negative impact on the
environment. Therefore, it has garnered enormous attention worldwide to replace
PBP. This chapter will review recent progress on PHA, how it is being
biosynthesized, the emergence of new copolymers to improve the properties of
existing PHA, a detailed comparison on mechanical properties of PHA with PBP,
and other efforts being made to make it as a potential “cure” for the plastic
pollution.
R. Sivashankari · T. Tsuge (*)
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama,
Japan
e-mail: tsuge.t.aa@m.titech.ac.jp
# Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
R. Prasad (ed.), Environmental Pollution and Remediation, Environmental and
Microbial Biotechnology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5499-5_3
59