CO₂ Capturing → PHA: Turning emissions into a low carbon material
From a climate problem to a useful resource CO₂ emissions and fossil‑based plastics are two challenges that often get tackled separately. The “CO₂ → PHA” approach connects them by using captured CO₂ from industrial sources as a starting point to make PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoates), a bio‑based polymer intended to help replace plastics produced from fossil fuels, support a circular economy, and reduce the wider impacts linked to persistent plastic waste (including microplastics). For CO₂ emitters, this means your off‑gas does not have to be ultra‑pure to be considered: mixed gas streams may be usable, as long as they do not contain components that are toxic to the bacteria (and higher CO₂ concentration still helps). In practice, this can lower the barrier to collaboration by reducing how much extra gas‑cleaning infrastructure may be needed and by allowing a wider range of emission streams to be considered for conversion into PHA. Meet PHA: a bio based alternative PHA is a family of bio based polymers. In ECOFUNC’s work, this includes P3HB, PHBV, and potentially new PHA types. For end users, […]
