The development of PHA into a branch of bulk chemical industry will address at least
three issues: shortage of petroleum for plastic materials, reduction of CO2 emissions,
and environmental protection. It is related to the sustainable development of the
chemical and material industries. The newly developed PHA-based biofuels open up
a new area for development that avoids argument on food versus fuel and fuel versus
land. However, much more work needs to be done to reduce the cost of PHA production
so that PHA-based biofuel can be added to the existing bio-based fuels, including
ethanol, propanol, butanol, biodiesel, hydrogen, and methane gas (Fig. 7).