Lignocellulosic and marine biomass as resource for production of polyhydroxyalkanoates

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are considered as sustainable ‘green/bio plastics’ because they have potential to replace their depleting petroleum-based competitors in the recent future. To reach this goal, PHAs must be able to compete with the established petroleum-based plastics in both technical and economic aspects. The current PHA production is based on high-priced substrates of high nutritional value and simple carbon sources such as glucose, sucrose, starch, or vegetable oils. Non-food based carbon-rich complex polysaccharides of lignocellulosic and marine biomass can be used as alternative and suitable feedstock through consolidated bioprocessing (CBP). CBP is a promising strategy that involves the production of lytic enzymes, hydrolysis of biomass, and fermentation of resulting sugars to desired products in a single process step. CBP offers very large cost reductions if microorganisms possessing the abilities are found or microbial processes are developed to utilize substrate and simultaneously produce products. This review focuses on possible available complex polysaccharides of lignocellulosic and marine biomass that can be used as resources to produce PHAs in biorefineries, including CBP.