Expanding the Technological Boundaries of the Biopolymer PHB in Electronic Products

Due to lightweight design, their electrical insulation properties and their high formability polymers are widely used in the electronics industry. Since the end of the nineties also biopolymers made of renewable resources expanded into the range of electronic. The driving force for this development is to reduce resource depletion and to use materials that have less environmental impact during their production, e.g. using less energy or causing less pollution. Polylactide acid (PLA) is the most widely employed biopolymer in electronics by now. In addition to its mechanical properties particularly the good availability on the market was the crucial factor for this development. The mechanical properties of polyhydroxy-butyrate (PHB) are partly better but the production capacity so far was too low to make inroads into the market. The cooperative research projects BioFun and BioPro identify the feasible fields of applications for PHB in electronic products and try to enlarge its capabilities via suitable modifications. To achieve a biopolymer with well-balanced environmental properties, the use of crude glycerine - a by-product from the local biodiesel production - is explored as feedstock for the fermentation of PHB.