From Organic Wastes and Hydrocarbons Pollutants to Polyhydroxyalkanoates: Bioconversion by Terrestrial and Marine Bacteria

Francesca Crisafi, Francesco Valentino, Federico Micolucci and Renata Denaro
Additional contact information
Francesca Crisafi: National Research Council, Institute of Polar Sciences (ISP–CNR), Spianata San Raineri, 86, 98122 Messina, Italy
Francesco Valentino: Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Cà Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino 155, 30170 Mestre-Venice, Italy
Federico Micolucci: Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, P.O. Box 463, SE-405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden
Renata Denaro: Water Research Institute (IRSA), National Research Council (CNR), Via Salaria km 29.300, Monterotondo, 00015 Rome, Italy

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 14, 1-29

Abstract: The use of fossil-based plastics has become unsustainable because of the polluting production processes, difficulties for waste management sectors, and high environmental impact. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are bio-based biodegradable polymers derived from renewable resources and synthesized by bacteria as intracellular energy and carbon storage materials under nutrients or oxygen limitation and through the optimization of cultivation conditions with both pure and mixed culture systems. The PHA properties are affected by the same principles of oil-derived polyolefins, with a broad range of compositions, due to the incorporation of different monomers into the polymer matrix. As a consequence, the properties of such materials are represented by a broad range depending on tunable PHA composition. Producing waste-derived PHA is technically feasible with mixed microbial cultures (MMC), since no sterilization is required; this technology may represent a solution for waste treatment and valorization, and it has recently been developed at the pilot scale level with different process configurations where aerobic microorganisms are usually subjected to a dynamic feeding regime for their selection and to a high organic load for the intracellular accumulation of PHA. In this review, we report on studies on terrestrial and marine bacteria PHA-producers. The available knowledge on PHA production from the use of different kinds of organic wastes, and otherwise, petroleum-polluted natural matrices coupling bioremediation treatment has been explored. The advancements in these areas have been significant; they generally concern the terrestrial environment, where pilot and industrial processes are already established. Recently, marine bacteria have also offered interesting perspectives due to their advantageous effects on production practices, which they can relieve several constraints. Studies on the use of hydrocarbons as carbon sources offer evidence for the feasibility of the bioconversion of fossil-derived plastics into bioplastics.

Keywords: polyhydroxyalkanoate; hydrocarbons; marine and terrestrial bacteria; waste carbon source; bioplastic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/14/8241/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/14/8241/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:14:p:8241-:d:856678

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().