Polyhydroxyalkanoates: bioplastics with a green agenda.

Production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) has been investigated for more than eighty years but recently a number of factors including increase in the price of crude oil and public awareness of the environmental issues have become a notable driving force for extended research on biopolymers. The versatility of PHAs has made them good candidates for the study of their potential in a variety of areas from biomedical/medical fields to food, packaging, textile and household material. While production costs are still a drawback to wider usage of these biopolymers, their application as low volume high cost items is becoming a reality. The future trend is to focus on the development of more efficient and economical processes for PHA production, isolation, purification and improvement of PHA material properties. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.