Microbial accumulation of bioplastics from waste stream: recent advancements and applications

The demand for biodegradable and biocompatible polymers rises because of the environmentally hazardous property of petroleum-based plastic. Polyhydroxyalkanoates is an advantageous alternative to synthetic plastics. Biodegradable property of this biopolymer makes it suitable for the environment, human, and animal health. For production of polyhydroxyalkanoates, several challenges are associated like production cost and use of hazardous chemical during extraction and treatment which oppose the scale up of the process. To overcome these issues, many strategies such as utilization of cheap carbon source, optimization of processes, and modified microbial strains are being used for economical production. The use of organic waste is a suitable option to produce polyhydroxyalkanoates in sustainable manner, which is cost-effective and provide solution of its management. Modification in downstream process makes it economic and sustainable by which it can be implemented on the industrial scale. In the application part of these biopolymer, it can be made prominent in medical, agriculture, and tissue engineering fields by blending option.