Comprehensive exploration of biomass and biowaste based polymers covering synthesis characterization and applications
Abstract
Biomass/biowaste-derived polymers are an advanced approach for the preparation of biodegradable and environmentally friendly polymers from renewable sources. This review focuses on methods for preparing, characterizing, and applying polymers derived from agricultural waste, animal waste, food leftovers, forestry residues, aquatic biomass, and industrial waste, among others. In this review, major classes, including lignin-based polymers, microbial polymers, cellulose-based polymers, starch-based polymers, and protein polymers, are discussed and characterized with structural, thermal, and mechanical analyses. Particularly, researchers highlight widely studied polymers such as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) and polylactic acid (PLA) due to their growing industrial and biomedical relevance. The applications of these polymers in environmental remediation, biofuels, pharmaceuticals, food industry, and packaging are discussed. Comparative assessment indicates that lignocellulosic biomass is the most suitable feedstock for large-scale polymer production because of its abundance, low cost, and compatibility with existing biorefinery systems, although intensive pretreatment remains a limitation. Food and kitchen waste enables efficient microbial conversion to PHA and PLA, whereas marine biowaste is better suited to high-value biomedical and specialty applications. Among the synthesis routes, microbial fermentation offers favorable environmental performance, while chemical polymerization provides greater molecular control and industrial scalability. In terms of material performance, PLA exhibits comparatively high mechanical strength, whereas PHA provides faster biodegradation, demonstrating a trade-off between performance and end-of-life sustainability. However, high production costs, feedstock heterogeneity, and limited industrial scalability remain major barriers to commercialization. Future research should therefore prioritize process optimization, techno-economic feasibility, and life-cycle performance.