PHA bioplastics
Polyesters grown inside bacteria from sugar or plant oil that biodegrade in soil and sea; technically promising, commercially fragile.
Bio-based chemicals · Bio-based polymers & platforms · No. 115
- Product family
- Feedstock: Crops and biomass
- not published; tens of kt a year of nameplate capacity (indicative), within 2.31 Mt of bioplastics capacity (2025)
- HS 391390
Bacteria can be starved until they swell with plastic, a plastic that later rots away in seawater.
Chart: Illustration: PHA bioplastics
Where it comes from
Chart: Map of where it comes from
Bacteria fed sugar or plant oil are starved of a nutrient so they store PHA, often 60-80% of their weight, which is then extracted and purified.
Three things to know
- Unlike PLA, PHA breaks down in soil, home compost and seawater, not only in industrial composters.
- Yield10 Bioscience went bankrupt in December 2024, three months before Danimer filed in March 2025.
- Each tonne of PHA needs about 2-3 t of sugar or 1-1.5 t of vegetable oil.
The journey
- 1 FeedstockSugar, plant oils, waste oils or methane
- 2 FermentationStarved bacteria fill up with PHA
- 3 RecoveryCells broken, PHA extracted with solvents
- 4 CompoundingBlended with additives, PLA or PBAT
- 5 End of lifeBiodegrades in soil, compost and seawater