Polyhydroxybutyrate, Its Copolymers and Blends

Abstract
Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) is an optically active polymer of D(−)3-hydroxybutyric acid. It is a naturally occurring polymer produced by a wide variety of bacteria. It serves as an intracellular storage material for carbon and energy and is accumulated as granules within the cytoplasm [1–4] of the bacteria. The chemical structure of PHB is shown in Fig. 1.