Bioplastics from algae

摘要

New research reported in BioMed Central's open access journal describes an alternative method of producing Poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) in microalgae. Poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) is a thermoplastic polyester which occurs naturally in bacteria as Ralstonia eutropha and Bacillus megaterium. Even though PHB is biodegradable and is not dependent on fossil resources, this bioplastic has been traditionally too expensive to produce to replace petroleum-based plastics.