Cyanobacteria as a Source of Biodegradable Plastics

Abstract

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are a group of biopolymers produced from various microorganisms that attracted many researchers for their use as a substitute for conventional petrochemical plastics. PHA possesses similar material properties to petrochemical plastics with the added benefits of biocompatibility, biodegradability, hydrophobicity, thermoplasticity, piezoelectricity, and stereospecificity. The first discovery of PHA production in cyanobacteria was in 1969, and the commercialization of PHA produced from cyanobacteria is not feasible to date. The difficulty with the commercial production of cyanobacterial PHA is due to the low biomass production and lower PHA accumulation than the heterotrophic bacteria. The biosynthesis of PHA, production of cyanobacterial PHA, and strategies to improve the production of PHA and commercialization are discussed in this chapter.