# PHA bioplastics

Polyesters grown inside bacteria from sugar or plant oil that biodegrade in soil and sea; technically promising, commercially fragile.

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pha/

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
 Bio-based chemicals · Bio-based polymers & platforms · Foundation · Matter

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

1. Unlike PLA, PHA breaks down in soil, home compost and seawater, not only in industrial composters.
2. Yield10 Bioscience went bankrupt in December 2024, three months before Danimer filed in March 2025.
3. Each tonne of PHA needs about 2-3 t of sugar or 1-1.5 t of vegetable oil.

##### The journey

1. 1 **Feedstock**Sugar, plant oils, waste oils or methane
2. 2 **Fermentation**Starved bacteria fill up with PHA
3. 3 **Recovery**Cells broken, PHA extracted with solvents
4. 4 **Compounding**Blended with additives, PLA or PBAT
5. 5 **End of life**Biodegrades in soil, compost and seawater
 Covered in [The chemical industry: what it makes and how it is organisedChemicals](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/chemicals/chem-industry-map/)

##### Go deeper pick a tab to open it in full

## Other sections

- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pha/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pha/correlation/index.md)
- [Production route](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pha/routes/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pha/production/index.md)
- [Feedstocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pha/feedstocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pha/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pha/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pha/movement/index.md)
- [Regulation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pha/regulation/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pha/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pha/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pha/links/index.md)