Advances in Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) Production


Book Description

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Advances in Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) Production" that was published in Bioengineering










Biopolyesters


Book Description

Living systems synthesize seven different classes of polymers. They provide structure and form for cells and organisms, function as catalysts and energy storage and carry the genetic information. All these polymers possess technically interesting properties. Some of these biopolymers are already used commercially. This special volume of Advances in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology comprises 10 chapters. It gives an overview of the water insoluble biopolyesters, in particular of the microbially synthesized poly-hydroxyalkanoate (PHA) family. It reports the state of the art of metabolism, regulation and genetic background, the latest advances made in genetic optimization of bacteria, "construction" of transgenic plants and in vitro synthesis by means of purified enzymes. Furthermore, it describes relevant technologies and evaluates perspectives concerning increasing the economic viability and competitiveness of PHA and discusses applications in medicine, packaging, food and other fields.




Environmental and Agricultural Microbiology


Book Description

Environmental and Agricultural Microbiology Uniquely reveals the state-of-the-art microbial research/advances in the environment and agriculture fields Environmental and Agricultural Microbiology: Applications for Sustainability is divided into two parts which embody chapters on sustenance and life cycles of microorganisms in various environmental conditions, their dispersal, interactions with other inhabited communities, metabolite production, and reclamation. Though books pertaining to soil & agricultural microbiology/environmental biotechnology are available, there is a dearth of comprehensive literature on the behavior of microorganisms in the environmental and agricultural realm. Part 1 includes bioremediation of agrochemicals by microalgae, detoxification of chromium and other heavy metals by microbial biofilm, microbial biopolymer technology including polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) and polyhydroxybutyrates (PHB), their production, degradability behaviors, and applications. Biosurfactants production and their commercial importance are also systematically represented in this part. Part 2 having 9 chapters, facilitates imperative ideas on approaches for sustainable agriculture through functional soil microbes, next-generation crop improvement strategies via rhizosphere microbiome, production and implementation of liquid biofertilizers, mitigation of methane from livestock, chitinases from microbes, extremozymes, an enzyme from extremophilic microorganism and their relevance in current biotechnology, lithobiontic communities, and their environmental importance, have all been comprehensively elaborated. In the era of sustainable energy production, biofuel and other bioenergy products play a key role, and their production from microbial sources are frontiers for researchers. The final chapter unveils the importance of microbes and their consortia for management of solid waste in amalgamation with biotechnology Audience The book will be read by environmental microbiologists, biotechnologists, chemical and agricultural engineers.




Advances in Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) Production, Volume 2


Book Description

Nowadays, we are witnessing highly dynamic research activities related to the intriguing field of biodegradable materials with plastic-like properties. These activities are stimulated by the strengthened public awareness of prevailing ecological issues connected to growing piles of plastic waste and increasing greenhouse gas emissions; this goes hand-in-hand with the ongoing depletion of fossil feedstocks, which are traditionally used to produce full carbon backbone polymers. Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biopolyesters, a family of plastic-like materials with versatile material properties, are increasing considered to be a future-oriented solution for diminishing these concerns. PHA production is based on renewable resources and occurs in a bio-mediated fashion through the action of living organisms. If accomplished in an optimized way, PHA production and the entire PHA lifecycle are embedded into nature ́s closed cycles of carbon. Sustainable and efficient PHA production requires understanding and improvement of all the individual process steps. Holistic improvement of PHA production, applicable on an industrially relevant scale, calls for, inter alia, consolidated knowledge about the enzymatic and genetic particularities of PHA-accumulating organisms, an in-depth understanding of the kinetics of the bioprocess, the selection of appropriate inexpensive fermentation feedstocks, tailoring of PHA composition at the level of its monomeric constituents, optimized biotechnological engineering, and novel strategies for PHA recovery from biomass characterized by low energy and chemical requirements. This Special Issue represents a comprehensive compilation of articles in which these individual aspects have been addressed by globally recognized experts.




Sustainable Food Packaging Technology


Book Description

Towards more sustainable packaging with biodegradable materials! The combination of the continuously increasing food packaging waste with the non-biodegradable nature of the plastic materials that have a big slice of the packaging market makes it necessary to move towards sustainable packaging for the benefit of the environment and human health. Sustainable packaging is the type of packaging that can provide to food the necessary protection conditions, but at the same type is biodegradable and can be disposed as organic waste to the landfills in order to biodegrade through a natural procedure. In this way, sustainable packaging becomes part of the circular economy. ?Sustainable Food Packaging Technology? deals with packaging solutions that use engineered biopolymers or biocomposites that have suitable physicochemical properties for food contact and protection and originate both from renewable or non-renewable resources, but in both cases are compostable or edible. Modified paper and cardboard with increased protective properties towards food while keeping their compostability are presented as well. The book also covers natural components that can make the packaging functional, e.g., by providing active protection to the food indicating food spoilage. * Addresses urgent problems: food packaging creates a lot of hard-to-recycle waste - this book puts forward more sustainable solutions using biodegradable materials * State-of-the-art: ?Sustainable Food Packaging Technology? provides knowledge on new developments in functional packaging * From lab to large-scale applications: expert authors report on the technology aspects of sustainable packaging




Biotechnological Applications of Polyhydroxyalkanoates


Book Description

This book presents the latest research on the uses of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), introducing readers to these natural, biodegradable polyesters produced by microorganisms, their functions and applications. The individual chapters discuss the various potentials of these bioplastics, which offer an attractive alternative to non-biodegradable plastics. The book also describes the diverse medical and biomedical applications of PHAs, including their use as drug carriers, memory enhancers, and biocontrol agents, and examines their role in creating a more sustainable economy – which is the need of the hour.




Bioremediation for Global Environmental Conservation


Book Description

The global environment has been rapidly deteriorating because of global warming, and a large population is facing severe water and food shortages. In addition to global warming, soil and groundwater contamination by heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, and chromium due to industrial development and excessive use of pesticides is also rapidly increasing. Remediation is necessary for replenishing drinking water and food, and remediation using microorganisms (bioremediation) and plants (phytoremediation) is one of the most feasible and economical methods. This book deals with strategies for efficient bioremediation and phytoremediation procedures. The authors discuss effective remediation technology, thus providing important information and new ideas for fighting the deterioration of our global environment.




Factories of the Future


Book Description

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license.This book presents results relevant in the manufacturing research field, that are mainly aimed at closing the gap between the academic investigation and the industrial application, in collaboration with manufacturing companies. Several hardware and software prototypes represent the key outcome of the scientific contributions that can be grouped into five main areas, representing different perspectives of the factory domain:1) Evolutionary and reconfigurable factories to cope with dynamic production contexts characterized by evolving demand and technologies, products and processes.2) Factories for sustainable production, asking for energy efficiency, low environmental impact products and processes, new de-production logics, sustainable logistics.3) Factories for the People who need new kinds of interactions between production processes, machines, and human beings to offer a more comfortable and stimulating working environment.4) Factories for customized products that will be more and more tailored to the final user’s needs and sold at cost-effective prices.5) High performance factories to yield the due production while minimizing the inefficiencies caused by failures, management problems, maintenance.This books is primarily targeted to academic researchers and industrial practitioners in the manufacturing domain.