Available Raw Materials for PHA Production

The use of waste materials as feedstocks for PHA biosynthesis constitutes a viable strategy for cost-efficient biopolymer production and supports various agro-industrial branches to overcome existing waste disposal problems. The subsequent Table 7.2 provides a compilation of selected carbon-rich waste streams that are reported to be potential feedstocks for microbial PHA production. Such carbon substrates that are of importance for human nutrition, like pure starch or edible oils from olives, soya or palm trees, are not included in this compilation. 

In many regions of the world, the industrial realization of value-added conversion of low-cost agricultural feedstocks can provide a certain degree of geopolitical independence for the involved countries. This means that the importing of fossil reserves can be avoided by replacing fossil feedstocks with efficient implementation of renewable resources available in the respective countries. In addition, the creation of different qualified jobs in these regions in the field of biopolymer production from local resources can provide a socio-economic benefit. 

In order to save costs for transportation, facilities for the production of biopolymers, biofuels and biochemicals should be integrated into existing production lines, where the feedstocks accrue directly as waste streams. In addition, the availability of convertible feedstocks all over the year has to be ascertained. This rises up the question of the material s appropriateness for long-term storage, enabling the creation of stocks of raw materials for off-season operation, where no harvest takes place (e.g. in the case of waste streams from the cane sugar industry). 

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