Prospective Biodegradable Plastics from Biomass Conversion Processes

Abstract

The biomass energy source has been a promising renewable alternative for fossil fuels and their inevitable environmental impacts on Earth’s life, from which the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the environment pollution followed by consequent ecosystem imbalance are major concerns. Biofuels and bioplastics are well-known examples of renewable products obtained from biomass that has shown increasing potential to succeed the conventional fuels and plastics. However, biofuels and especially bioplastics have faced their main hindrance in their uncompetitive costs. Furthermore, the “drop-in” plastics are the market leaders, which reduce the carbon footprint but continue to state the biodegradability concern attributed to most of plastic products, the packaging sector. This chapter outlines the common features and feedstocks of biofuels and bioplastics aiming to support their associated production set toward the bio-based and biodegradable poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) as promising models with fast-growing production capacity forecasted for the next years and biodegradable solution for short-lived and disposable plastic materials.