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Costa P, Basaglia M, Casella S, Favaro L. Copolymers as a turning point for large scale polyhydroxyalkanoates applications. Int J Biol Macromol 2024:133575. [PMID: 38960239 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.133575] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2024] [Revised: 05/28/2024] [Accepted: 06/28/2024] [Indexed: 07/05/2024]
Abstract
Traditional plastics reshaped the society thanks to their brilliant properties and cut-price manufacturing costs. However, their protracted durability and limited recycling threaten the environment. Worthy alternatives seem to be polyhydroxyalkanoates, compostable biopolymers produced by several microbes. The most common 3-hydroxybutyrate homopolymer has limited applications calling for copolymers biosynthesis to enhance material properties. As a growing number of researches assess the discovery of novel comonomers, great endeavors are dedicated as well to copolymers production scale-up, where the choice of the microbial carbon source significantly affects the overall economic feasibility. Diving into novel metabolic pathways, engineered strains, and cutting-edge bioprocess strategies, this review aims to survey up-to-date publications about copolymers production, focusing primarily on precursors origins. Specifically, in the core of the review, copolymers precursors have been divided into three categories based on their economic value: the costliest structurally related ones, the structurally unrelated ones, and finally various low-cost waste streams. The combination of cheap biomasses, efficient pretreatment strategies, and robust microorganisms paths the way towards the development of versatile and circular polymers. Conceived to researchers and industries interested in tackling polyhydroxyalkanoates production, this review explores an angle often underestimated yet of prime importance: if PHAs copolymers offer advanced properties and sustainable end-of-life, the feedstock choice for their upstream becomes a major factor in the development of plastic substitutes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paolo Costa
- Waste-to-Bioproducts Lab, Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural resources, Animals and Environment (DAFNAE), University of Padova, Agripolis, Viale dell'Università, 16, 35020 Legnaro, PD, Italy.
| | - Marina Basaglia
- Waste-to-Bioproducts Lab, Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural resources, Animals and Environment (DAFNAE), University of Padova, Agripolis, Viale dell'Università, 16, 35020 Legnaro, PD, Italy.
| | - Sergio Casella
- Waste-to-Bioproducts Lab, Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural resources, Animals and Environment (DAFNAE), University of Padova, Agripolis, Viale dell'Università, 16, 35020 Legnaro, PD, Italy.
| | - Lorenzo Favaro
- Waste-to-Bioproducts Lab, Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural resources, Animals and Environment (DAFNAE), University of Padova, Agripolis, Viale dell'Università, 16, 35020 Legnaro, PD, Italy; Department of Microbiology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, 7602 Matieland, South Africa.
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Aversa C, Barletta M, Koca N. Processing
PLA
/P(
3HB
)(
4HB
) blends for the manufacture of highly transparent, gas barrier and fully bio‐based films for compostable packaging applications. J Appl Polym Sci 2023. [DOI: 10.1002/app.53669] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Clizia Aversa
- Department of Industrial, Mechanical and Electronical Engineering University of Roma Tre Rome Italy
| | - Massimiliano Barletta
- Department of Industrial, Mechanical and Electronical Engineering University of Roma Tre Rome Italy
| | - Nazan Koca
- Department of Industrial, Mechanical and Electronical Engineering University of Roma Tre Rome Italy
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Rehakova V, Pernicova I, Kourilova X, Sedlacek P, Musilova J, Sedlar K, Koller M, Kalina M, Obruca S. Biosynthesis of versatile PHA copolymers by thermophilic members of the genus Aneurinibacillus. Int J Biol Macromol 2023; 225:1588-1598. [PMID: 36435467 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2022.11.215] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2022] [Revised: 11/16/2022] [Accepted: 11/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Thermophilic members of the genus Aneurinibacillus constitute a remarkable group of microorganisms that exhibit extraordinary flexibility in terms of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) synthesis. In this study, we demonstrate that these Gram-positive bacteria are capable of the utilization of selected lactones, namely, γ-valerolactone (GVL), γ-hexalactone (GHL), and δ-valerolactone (DVL) as the structural precursors of related PHA monomers. In the presence of GVL, a PHA copolymer consisting of 3-hydroxybutyrate, 3-hydroxyvalerate, and also 4-hydroxyvalerate was synthesized, with a 4 HV fraction as high as 53.1 mol%. Similarly, the application of GHL resulted in the synthesis of PHA copolymer containing 4-hydroxyhexanaote (4HHx) (4HHx fraction reached up to 11.5 mol%) and DVL was incorporated into PHA in form of 5-hydroxyvalerate (5 HV) (maximal 5 HV content was 44.2 mol%). The produced materials were characterized by thermoanalytical and spectroscopic methods; the results confirmed extremely appealing material properties of produced copolymers. Further, due to their unique metabolic features and capability of incorporating various PHA monomers into the PHA chain, thermophilic Aneurinibacillus spp. can be considered not only promising chassis for PHA production but also potential donors of PHA-relevant genes to improve PHA production in other thermophiles by using approaches of synthetic biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Veronika Rehakova
- Department of Food Science and Biotechnology, Faculty of Chemistry, Brno University of Technology, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Iva Pernicova
- Department of Food Science and Biotechnology, Faculty of Chemistry, Brno University of Technology, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Xenie Kourilova
- Department of Food Science and Biotechnology, Faculty of Chemistry, Brno University of Technology, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Petr Sedlacek
- Department of Physical and Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Brno University of Technology, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Jana Musilova
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication, Brno University of Technology, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Karel Sedlar
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication, Brno University of Technology, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Martin Koller
- Research Management and Service, c/o Institute of Chemistry, NAWI Graz, University of Graz, Graz, Austria; ARENA Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Ressourcenschonende & Nachhaltige Technologien, Graz, Austria
| | - Michal Kalina
- Department of Physical and Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Brno University of Technology, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Stanislav Obruca
- Department of Food Science and Biotechnology, Faculty of Chemistry, Brno University of Technology, Brno, Czech Republic.
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