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Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are plastic-like polymers produced naturally by many types of bacteria. PHA are among the most promising next generation plastics because they are biodegradable and can be produced using renewable resources. This Practical Guide to Microbial Polyhroxyalkanoates provides detailed information on the various microbial aspects that govern the design and synthesis of commercially useful PHA. Unlike chemical polymerisation processes, the microbial system involves multiple biological catalysts that convert renewable carbon sources into monomers and finally high molecular w

Microbial polymers. --- Plastics --- Microbiology.

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Currently, we are witnessing highly dynamic research efforts related to the exciting field of novel biodegradable plastic-like materials. These activities originate from a growing public awareness of prevailing ecological problems associated to, e.g., rising piles of plastic waste, increasing greenhouse gas emissions, and ongoing depletion of such fossil resources usually used for the synthesis of "full carbon backbone" plastics. Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biopolyesters, a family of versatile plastic-like materials produced by living microbes, are a future-oriented alternative to traditional plastics. If accomplished in an optimized way, production and the entire lifecycle of PHA are embedded into nature´s closed carbon cycle, which is underlined by PHA´s main benefits of being "biobased", "biosynthesized", "biocompatible", and "biodegradable". Sustainable and economically feasible PHA synthesis, especially on an industrially relevant scale, requires all production steps to be understood and improved. Among other aspects, this calls for new powerful production strains to be screened; knowledge about the proteome and genome of PHA accumulating organisms to be consolidated; the kinetics of the bioprocesses to be thoroughly understood; abundantly available inexpensive raw materials to be tested; the monomer composition of PHA to be adapted; (bio)chemical engineering to be optimized; and novel PHA recovery strategies to be developed in order to reduce energy and chemical inventory. The present book provides a comprehensive compilation of articles addressing all these different aspects; the individual chapters were composed by globally recognized front running experts from special niches of PHA research. We are convinced that this book will be of major benefit to the growing scientific community active in biopolymer research.

Biodegradable plastics. --- Poly-beta-hydroxyalkanoates. --- PHA (Polymer) --- Poly-3-hydroxyalkanoates --- Microbial polymers --- Polyesters --- Degradable plastics --- Environmentally degradable plastics --- Environmentally friendly plastics --- Green plastics --- Biodegradable products --- Biopolymers --- Plastics --- Biodegradation