Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) for the Fabrication of Filtration Membranes

International audienceUndoubtedly, in our current society, the development of more sustainable materials has to be considered in many applications. In this chapter, the interest of new potential biomaterials intended for the fabrication of filtration membranes is discussed. A focus is made on the polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) polymers family. These biobased and biodegradable polyesters have gained attention in the past few years thanks to their versatile properties. Up to date, they have shown promising results for the fabrication of pervaporation and liquid filtration membranes. The membrane performances could be tuned by the use of PHAs having different comonomer contents and by the addition of proper additives. By discussing what has been developed in other application areas, such as biomedical and packaging, some insights are suggested in order to improve the overall PHAs-based membranes properties. Hence, the first part will deal with the membrane technologies and the current polymeric materials used. A second part will highlight the interest of biopolymers. Then, the properties and potential applications of PHAs in the membrane manufacture will be discussed. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG